


The Light of the Night

by VivaJayne



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 11:34:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 49,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19440634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VivaJayne/pseuds/VivaJayne
Summary: "Turn your back, pray to be free, Fear La Lumiere de la Nuit." When Natsu and Lucy stumble upon a ransacked old house, they can't fathom the depths of the trouble they've gotten themselves into. Rated M for language and adult themes. NaLu pairing because hey, who doesn't love those two? Original characters and plot





	1. Chapter 1

_When darkness creeps into your sight,_

_Your vision robbed of all its light,_

_Legend speaks of mortal girls,_

_One of dull and darkened curls,_

_One of flooded holy light,_

_Stolen futures tall and bright,_

_Do not trust all that you see,_

_Know La Lumiére de la Nuit._

The sun was high in the sky when Lucy stretched her arms above her head to shake off the sleep. It had been nice, having a few weeks to relax after the whole Edolas business. Her brain was tired and moving slowly; a good week of sleep had done her wonders. But now Lucy was ready to take on the world again- if she didn’t she’d surely be kicked out of her apartment.

She swung her legs lazily over the side of the bed. The floor was cold beneath her feet; it sent a shiver from the base of her spine to the top of her head. Hurrying so she wouldn’t be in the cold for long, Lucy snatched up some clothes from the apartment floor and prepared her daily shower. Lucy loved showering; it was the highlight of her day. The warm water relaxed her almost to the point of sleep, and in the dimmed light of the bathroom she found she could imagine herself anywhere in the world.

It never took her long to make herself presentable. Once she had, she hooked her little leather pouch of keys to her belt and slipped quietly out the front door. She had briefly contemplated taking the window to avoid the frightening possibility of running into her landlady, but decided if she showed her fear it may make her vulnerable. She shuddered at the thought of the bitter old woman’s wrath.

Outside the weather was perfect in Magnolia- mostly sun with a slight aftertaste of rain. Lucy smiled and set off at a leisurely pace towards the guild. Turning the corner onto one of the busier market streets, she lost herself in the buzzing city. It was difficult to imagine even small crimes occurring in a place like this; the vast majority of the people were so friendly and welcoming.

“Hey Lucy!” She turned and saw the waitress at her favorite café waving to her from the entrance of the restaurant. Lucy grinned and waved back, making a note to return there soon with Natsu. He had bothered her so often to go there that when she finally gave in and loved it, he insisted on being with her every time she went. She smiled to herself. Natsu had become one of her closest friends during her time with Fairy Tail; she almost couldn’t remember a time before he was there.

Then suddenly he _was_ there.

Lucy collided with a solid wall of chest with enough force to send her spiralling to the ground in a heap of frustrated confusion.

“Hey!” She exclaimed, dusting herself off. Her body ached with the pain of free-falling onto a stone surface. She was sure she had scratched and bruised herself in multiple places, “Watch where you’re going!” She grumbled, her good mood evaporating swiftly. “Just who do you think you-?”

“Lucy!”

She stopped. Lucy opened her eyes and looked up slowly, blinking in the bright sunlight. About two inches from her nose she found a pair of twinkling dark eyes, pale pink hair, and white pointed teeth, all adding up to a grinning Natsu, devilish joy etched into his features.

“Jeez Natsu,” She groaned, rolling her head back in exasperation. “Watch where you’re going would you? You could’ve killed me!”

Natsu ignored her, his grin solidly in place. “Have I got a job for us!” He exclaimed happily.

“A job?” Lucy repeated, her fall completely forgotten at the prospect of rent money. Her interest was suddenly peaked. “What kind of a job?”

“Just trust me! You’ll love it!” Natsu reached down and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to her feet roughly. Lucy stumbled, her balance put off by the sudden change in position.

“See, every time you say that we end up on some ridiculous mission that almost gets us killed, or majorly embarrassed.” She criticised. Natsu simply winked at her knowingly and, with a gulp from Lucy, started at a brisk run.

“Natsu- Wait-!” Lucy yelped, her legs flying out from under her as Natsu dragged her along behind him. “You know I can’t keep up with you like this!”

Natsu laughed.

.

“I don’t see why we couldn’t take the train,” Lucy groaned, her feet aching. She seriously contemplated bringing out Horologium to carry her, but decided better of it. It was just her, Natsu, and Happy (he’d joined them on the outskirts of town) so she felt it would be unfair to them if she just disappeared inside a clock because she didn’t want to walk anymore. If Natsu was being carried by Happy, however, it’d be a much different story.

“Because of my motion sickness,” Natsu replied happily, strutting ahead. Lucy shook her head at him. He wasn’t even _beginning_ to sweat, and she was close on wheezing. How could he be so content on foot?

“So where exactly are we going?” She asked again, not expecting an answer. Natsu had been very vague with his descriptions of the job, giving her next to no details. She didn’t like that. So she’d been relying on her eyes to give her an idea of what this mission entailed. Taking in her surroundings had not been the most effective of plans though; first they’d passed through a forest, one she didn’t recognize, and now were in a field with no town in sight.

“Seriously Natsu, where are we going?”

“The old Madison place!” Natsu answered at once, saying it as though it should have been obvious to her.

“The old Madison place?” She repeated, tilting her head to the side. “I’ve never heard of it. Why couldn’t you have just told me that?”

“We didn’t think you’d want to come,” Natsu mused, glancing back at her mischievously. Lucy didn’t like what usually followed that look, and she almost stopped herself from asking her next question.

Almost.

“Why wouldn’t I want to come?” She asked cautiously. “It’s just some old house right?”

“It’s supposed to be… haunted!” Happy cooed, jumping suddenly to wave his paws in Lucy’s face menacingly. She sucked in her breath. Definitely shouldn’t have asked.

“H-Haunted?” She stammered. Her heart rate was rising exponentially. “Like… by ghosts?”

Happy nodded gravely, floating along beside her head. “The super scary kind,” He elaborated, moving his paws in wild gestures that Lucy guessed were supposed to be frightening.

“Why do people say it’s haunted?” She whispered. The field around them seemed to have fallen silent, echoing the beating of her own heart in her ears. Lucy’s insides were churning with nerves, slowing her steps to a crawl.

“The locals hear noises,” Happy explained, demonstrating a loud bumping sound that made Lucy jump. “And every once in a while, they call in a group of wizards to check it out… and they never come back!”

“N-Never?” Lucy’s eyes were wide. There was a slight tremor in her voice that caused Natsu to glance back at her again, but she didn’t notice.

“Not even once! They say the house is haunted by the ghost of old man Madison,” Happy continued, lowering his voice to a whisper. “They say when he was alive he used to experiment on wizards like us…”

“…Experiment?” Lucy’s throat was tight. She had trouble getting the words out. Her hand crept up to her heart, clenched in a tight fist to hide her shaking.

“Horrible, bloodthirsty experiments…” Happy suddenly jolted forward, ducking behind a rock that was coming up on their right. Peeking out over the top of it at Lucy, he continued “His favorite to experiment on was celestial wizards.”

“Really?” Lucy gulped. She didn’t realise it but she’d stopped moving, frozen in place with fear. Happy nodded.

“He would tie them up, cut them open, and eat their insides raw!” He exclaimed, “Just to see how they tasted with fish!”

Lucy let out a small squeal, missing the last comment about the fish that would’ve tipped her off to the exaggeration of Happy’s story. Ahead of her, Natsu stopped walking and turned to face them.

“Happy, cut it out,” He scolded. Lucy looked to him in surprise. He was looking at her with a comforting smile. “Madison was a theoretical magic user. He didn’t go out in the field much; he just liked the history behind magic. His specialty was celestial spirits. When he passed, his house was preserved. Some of the locals heard noises from there the past few nights, so they wanted someone to check it out.”

Lucy blinked at him. Happy had joined the two of them glumly, his ears drooping in disappointment. Natsu reached a hand out to Lucy, taking hers with a friendly squeeze. “Come on Luce; let’s go kick some bad guy ass!”

Lucy smiled, returning his grip on her hand and starting at a light jog with him up the path.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the Madison House. When Lucy saw it, she was slightly shocked. It was a quaint stone cottage on top of a hill, with miniature trees standing in a wide circle around the structure. It had a dusty look, but that was the only feature betraying its age. Not what she’d expect of a monumental residence.

“It’s cute,” Lucy commented in surprise. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s been here for years.”

“Well then job done,” Natsu smiled, stretching his arms above his head. She heard a pop as his shoulders rolled, shifting under the fabric of his open vest.

“No way,” She crossed her arms, jutting her hips to one side. “We’ve come this far, we’re going in there.” She gestured to the house a few feet away from them. “This job was your idea, and you’re not bailing now.”

“What happened to being scared?” One of Natsu’s eyes opened, his gaze shifting lazily to her. Her cheeks flushed.

“That was Happy’s fault!” Lucy shrieked, gesturing wildly to the little blue cat. He grinned at her maliciously. “Now you dragged me on this job and we’re going to finish it!”

“Ok, ok,” Natsu sighed, shaking out his body after his stretch. “Let’s do this quickly and get home. I’m hungry!”

They approached the door slowly, not wanting to alert any possible burglars of their presence. Happy hung back, munching on a fish he’d brought with him for snacks. Lucy had rolled her eyes, but didn’t argue with him.

The door was wooden, rotten, and dusty. It looked like it was untouched, but that didn’t rule out the possibility of someone breaking in another way. Lucy pressed her ear to the door, listening intently for any signs of life.

“I don’t hear anything,” She stated after a few seconds of silence. “Maybe we should wait a bit longer. Stake it out.”

“Or we could bust in and ambush them!” Natsu suggested, firing up his fists. The fire spread to his eyes, and it was easy to see the energy radiating off him in waves. Lucy jumped on the idea quickly to squash it.

“Ambush what? We don’t know if anyone’s in there!” Lucy’s voice was exasperated. Natsu looked discouraged, but extinguished his flames and considered her words very briefly.

“True, but if we burst in and no one’s there we can just go home!”

“Really, that’s your logic?” She groaned. “Ok, I say we go in through the window. That way we have less of a chance of tipping someone off that we’ve been here. We scope it out, see if anything’s off about the place, and if not we bail. If so we go from there. Sound good to you?”

Natsu’s shoulders slumped, but he nodded. Standing there in that defeated stance reminded Lucy of a child hearing his idea isn’t plausible. She couldn’t help but smile.

The window was opened, indicating to Lucy that maybe someone _had_ been here recently; why would an old abandoned house like this have an open window? Storing the oddity in the back of her mind, Lucy fell to the aged floor with a soft thump, Natsu beside her.

The room they were in now was small, but organized. It looked like a kitchen with places for a stove and fridge on either end of what seemed to be a sink. The place had a coating of dust about an inch thick, and mold had begun to grow in some places. It didn’t seem to be very well preserved, Lucy thought to herself.

She and Natsu began to move from room to room then, giving each a quick once over. Nothing of Madison’s house stood out as strange or special; Lucy began to question the legitimacy of Natsu’s information. There was a single bedroom, a bathroom, the kitchen they were in previously, and a small living room.

“It doesn’t seem like anyone’s been snooping…” Lucy trailed, examining the faded pattern on the old couch. “The only footprints around are ours. Maybe it was an animal or something?”

“Wouldn’t they leave footprints too?” Natsu argued, coming up behind Lucy to look at the couch. He looked puzzled, like he was trying to figure out the significance of the piece of furniture. Lucy giggled to herself, deciding to leave him wondering.

The living room was dotted with pictures of sunsets and beaches, animals and faceless people. Lucy looked at each one in turn, deciding they were nothing of significance- just a random batch of pictures. She moved onto her next thought train.

“Oh yeah, I guess they would…” She said, answering Natsu’s previous question. Her gaze fell to the battered rug beneath their feet. Suddenly an idea popped into her head. “Hey Natsu help me lift this.” She gestured to the floor, gripping two of the corners. Natsu caught on to her plan, gripping the other corners and lifting the rug onto the couch. A cloud of dust and debris surrounded them, causing Lucy to cough viciously. When the dirt settled, she began to feel around the wooden floor. It didn’t seem out of the ordinary.

“Hmm, I guess I was wrong…” She bit her lip. It was tempting to leave the house now and call it a day, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was missing something. Finally, she sighed and stood.

“Maybe there really is nothing here,” Lucy admitted, hanging her head. “I don’t know what these people were hearing, but it’s nothing I can see here.”

Natsu raised his eyebrows. “You’re done already? We haven’t even checked the basement!”

Lucy balked. “…Base…ment?”

Natsu placed his hand on one of the paintings on the wall, pressing in. The wall shook violently and then collapsed to reveal a spiral stone staircase littered with leaves and spider webs. Lucy’s jaw dropped.

“YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS THE WHOLE TIME?!” Natsu scratched his head, chuckling sheepishly.

The basement was dark and dank, leaving a bad taste in Lucy’s mouth from the heavy air. Her footsteps resonated loudly off the bare walls, hurting even her own ears. They didn’t have to descend far to reach the bottom of the stairs, thankfully, but it plunged them into almost complete darkness.

Lucy felt around for something to center her, allow her to position herself. The walls were made of slick stone, cold beneath her palm. She shuddered and exhaled sharply, sure that if there were light she’d be able to see her breath.

All of a sudden the room burst to life around her, a warm glow bouncing off the various objects in the room. Natsu stood behind her, his hand illuminated in a flickering flame. He stepped closer to her, holding the warmth between them comfortably. Lucy smiled at him gratefully, her shoulders relaxed in the absence of cold.

“What the…” Natsu trailed, glancing around the room in confusion. Lucy followed his gaze, taking in the mess of their surroundings. Unlike the rest of the house, the basement was cluttered and utterly unorganized. There were only a desk and bookshelf in the small round room, but books were thrown about the floor precariously. Some were large and bound in leather, others small and bound in paper. Each book was unique in size and shape it seemed, even the odd round book popped up every few feet.

“What in the world?” Lucy gasped, bending to pick up one of the mistreated books. Its pages were dry and cracked, something expected of old books. The letters were still crisp and dark, easily legible.

“Looks like someone was busy,” Natsu quirked an eyebrow, kicking a pile of books near his foot. Lucy gave him a hard look. “Well other than the fact that Madison wasn’t as big of a neat freak as I thought, this was a bust. Let’s go get the money and bail.”

“Hold on,” Lucy held up a hand. Natsu sighed, his features collapsing in impatience. Lucy ignored him, her attention on one of the books. There was something off about it, something that didn’t sit with her. She chewed her lip in concentration whilst trying to tune out Natsu’s exaggerated sighs. She fingered one of the pages thoughtfully and as she did, something clicked.

“Wait a minute!” She exclaimed, jumping to her feet. Natsu stumbled, taken aback by her outburst. “These books! They weren’t left here by Madison!”

Natsu blinked at her.

“The pages,” Lucy explained, brandishing the book towards him excitedly. “They’re crisp and clean, the words are really easy to read. If it had been left open like this the whole time, the pages would be damp and almost illegible.” She could see the wheels turning in Natsu’s head; his black eyes were focused and unwavering, the way they were when he was lost in thought. “Someone’s been in here Natsu, I’m sure of it.”

Natsu straightened, glancing over his shoulder at the mess around them with a new perspective. “If that’s true then they were probably looking for something.”

“You’re probably right. The question is: did they find it?” There was one book left on the shelf untouched, and Lucy zoned in on it now. It didn’t look any different from the other books, perhaps a bit newer but nothing extraordinary. It struck her as odd that the people who ransacked this place would leave one lonely book on the shelf untouched. She was drawn to it, reaching for the leather bound pages.

“It’s a long shot,” She muttered to herself, recognizing the title as a semi-recent history of a town north of Magnolia, “But it could be something…” She plucked the book off the shelf lightly, easing the cover open with a resounding pop.

She felt the magic before she saw it, flinging the book away from her just as it exploded into a bright white cascade of ash.

The room shook with the force of the blow, the shelf toppling and bits of stone falling to the floor around her. Lucy heard Natsu yell as she dove to the floor, covering her head with her arms. The part of the wall where the book made impact was now gone, a gaping jaw of a hole left in its place. The hole went about two feet into the surrounding soil.

For a while all Lucy could see was smoke, dust, and the occasional piece of rubble clouding the air. She coughed into her arm, trying desperately to get a decent breath. Finally the air began to settle, giving her a visual on Natsu just inches from her.

“Are you ok?” She choked, clearing the dirt from her throat. Natsu shook his head angrily, leaping to his feet.

“Alright come on!” He roared, his fists flaring. “Come out you bastard! A rigged lacrima is the most cowardly trick in the book!”

Lucy glanced to where she’d thrown the book and, sure enough, there were tiny shards of crystal embedded amongst the rocks.

“Come out and fight face to face!” Natsu was still yelling; his feet were spread and his knees bent, his fists and jaw clenched for action. Lucy propped herself up on her elbows, waiting for someone to answer Natsu’s challenge. No one did.

“I don’t think anyone’s here,” She offered, pushing herself to her feet. “Whoever set that lacrima is long gone by now.”

“Damn,” Natsu muttered, extinguishing his flames once again. He took a second to collect himself, pursing his lips in thought.

Silence filled the room, leaving Lucy to her thoughts. She looked at the lacrima pieces, the hole in the wall, and the horribly mangled remains of the basement. “What on earth was this guy looking for?” She wondered aloud, more to herself than to Natsu.

“I don’t know,” He answered anyway, turning to her with a determined grin, “But I’m going to find out.”


	2. Chapter 2

_A child’s tears brings a smile,_

_Lured by deceitful boyish wiles,_

_Know the whip, the curdled screams,_

_Fight to keep from hopeful dreams,_

_A seed of rage is planted there,_

_To grow in gritted silence fair,_

_Tormented heart holds the key,_

_To La Lumiére de la Nuit._

Lucy was silent during the trip back to the guild. The events at the Madison house had stirred her thoughts, igniting her curiosity. Who had destroyed the basement hideaway? What were they looking for? Did they find it? Why did they feel the need to harm anyone trying to track them down? All of these questions burned in her mind as she kept pace with Natsu’s quick steps; left, right, left, right.

When she and Natsu emerged from the wreckage, they found Happy asleep on a nearby rock. He was very surprised to learn of the action he’d missed, and didn’t seem overly concerned with the fact they’d almost been blown away. Lucy and Natsu had yelled at him. After a quick search yielding no results, the group had headed back towards town.

In her daze, Lucy failed to notice that Natsu had slowed suddenly and turned into the guild. She took a few extra steps and almost collided with another building, but an exclamation from Levy caught her attention.

“Lucy!” She called, poking her head out into the street. “You wanna come in here? Natsu is babbling about an explosion and no one can make heads or tails of it…” Levy smiled encouragingly, holding her hand out to Lucy. Lucy blinked, pausing for a moment before returning the smile and taking Levy’s hand.

The inside of the guild hall was less lively than normal. Many of the seats were empty, giving Lucy the impression that many people were out on jobs. She looked for Erza, Gray, or Wendy, but none were to be found. She turned to Levy, voicing her observations.

“Well yeah,” Levy chuckled, scratching the back of her head. “Most everyone’s out right now. Erza took Wendy on a delivery job, and Gray is with Juvia I think. Whether he knows it or not is another thing…”

Lucy laughed. “Good point. Ok, so what’s this about Natsu?”

“He’s over there,” Levy pointed. Next to the bar Natsu was gesturing wildly, flames coming out of his mouth while he spoke. A few of the members had gathered to listen, many with confused expressions on their faces. Lucy rolled her eyes. It wasn’t hard to tell he was exaggerating what had happened to them. She joined the group.

“-And then a tower of flame came shooting out of the wall! It was insanity!” Natsu finished, falling back onto a table. Mira was smiling, but everyone else was staring doubtfully. Happy was standing on the table beside Natsu, adding to the performance with sound effects. Lucy’s eyebrow twitched.

“It wasn’t a tower of flame,” She sighed, to Natsu’s deflation, “It was a lacrima. Rigged to explode when anyone tried to open the book it was in. Here, I saved a piece:” Lucy reached into her pocket and removed a shimmering piece of white crystal. Before she and Natsu had dug their way out of the house she’d swiped it and a piece of the book it was in. Now she showed it to the circle of wizards giving Natsu the stink eye.

“It doesn’t look like any rigged lacrima I’ve ever seen before…” Mira commented, leaning in for a closer inspection. “Levy, what do you think?”

Levy placed her reading glasses carefully on her nose. “I don’t recognize the make of it… but I could do some research for you! I’ll get back to you in the morning if that’s ok.”

Lucy was about to agree that it was fine, but Gajeel had lightly pushed Levy aside, holding the lacrima piece to his nose. “I know what this is,” he grinned, looking confident. “We used to use them in Phantom. Regular trap lacrimas are meant for kid pranks, these have been amped to release more power.” Gajeel dropped the piece back into Lucy’s hand. “They pack quite a punch eh? Gihi.” He chuckled, earning a small frown from Levy.

“But where did it come from?” Lucy said, ignoring Gajeel’s last comment. “That’s what we need to figure out. Whoever did this is up to something, and it may be something small but I have a sneaking suspicion it’s exactly the opposite.”

“Well you said you found it in a book right?” Levy prompted, tucking her reading glasses into her pocket. “Can you remember what kind of book it was? The title, even? Anything at all could give us something to go on.”

Lucy thought for a moment. “I remember it was a history book,” She said, positive of the image in her brain. “The history of a town, I believe. But I can’t remember the name… I think it started with an F? Fernland or… or something.”

“I thought it was Fornun,” Natsu sulked, still disappointed that his story was interrupted and debunked. “Or Furmberg.”

“And it was brown. With little blue dots,” Lucy chewed her lip. “And I think the words were black.”

Levy laughed. “Well that’s something anyway. I’ll see what I can dig up. In the meantime you two should get some rest, you look awful.”

Lucy glanced down at herself. She was indeed covered in dirt, soot, and scratches. She laughed at herself, waving to Levy. “You’re right,” She shrugged, heading towards the door. “I’m going to go shower and get some sleep. Meet back here in the morning?”

“Sounds like a plan to me!” Levy answered, stepping back towards a table where Jet and Droy were in the middle of a rousing game of cards. Gajeel followed her, standing behind like a body guard while she seated herself and set to work with a quill. Lucy smiled.

.

Her bed looked welcoming when Lucy finally emerged from the bathroom, donning her pajamas and a bathrobe, but sleep would have to wait a little while longer. She felt bad leaving all the grunt work to Levy, so Lucy settled at her desk with a large book she’d found in the storeroom at the guild before heading home. It was a collection of works by Henry T. Madison.

Lucy didn’t know exactly what she was looking for, just something that might help. The pages of the book were old and yellowing, so much so that it was difficult to make out the text. From what she could tell, the introduction was a brief summary of the author. After inspecting it carefully she dismissed it as unimportant.

The next page was a blurb on Madison’s hometown. She skimmed it, but nothing stood out to her. After that the first chapter was about Madison’s childhood and growing up in a single parent household. Lucy read each word three times over, looking for some name or place she recognized. So far, it was futile.

“What had he stumbled upon?” She wondered aloud, her mind wandering from the page before her. It was easy to imagine this man harbouring some grand secret, mainly because she knew almost nothing about him. Everything she read was vague and unspecific, and his house had been so plain it hadn’t given her a decent image. The man was illusive, a mystery, like smoke. Lucy shuddered, the temperature in the room dropping ever so slightly.

The quiet was getting to her, so she delved into the book once again. It was comforting, immersing herself in the old pages. An hour had passed; she was two chapters in with nothing to show for it when she heard a slight knock behind her.

Lucy turned slowly, her nerves getting the better of her. Ghost or no ghost, the quiet in her apartment was chilling. She thought back to the way Happy had been talking, telling her of experiments and torture. She knew the little cat had made the whole thing up, but that didn’t mean the story hadn’t stuck with her.

“It’s just my imagination,” She told herself firmly, closing her eyes against the darkness outside her window.

“What is?”

Lucy screamed in terror. She lurched back in her chair, scrambling away from the voice next to her ear. The book fell from her fingers and landed with a sizable thud on the floor by her feet.

“Geez, calm down Lucy,” Natsu shrugged, stooping to pick up the abandoned book. “What’s gotten into you?”

Natsu. Lucy’s heart was thumping wildly in her chest. Slowly her skin began to cool against the wall behind her, but her anger was suddenly boiling.

“What the hell Natsu?!” She demanded, clutching her heart with her hand. “You almost killed me! What are you even doing here?”

Natsu plopped down on her bed, folding his legs beneath him. Lucy watched as he made himself at home, fluffing a pillow behind his back and leaning lazily against the wall. “I was bored,” He explained, opening the Madison book in his lap. “Happy was asleep; I thought you might be awake.”

“Well I was about to go to sleep,” Lucy grumbled, straightening her chair and clothing. Her pulse was back to normal, finally, and the goose bumps on her skin had faded. “Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?”

“I did knock,” Natsu looked at her, insult on his face. “I knocked on your window to open it.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Lucy snapped. Natsu grinned apologetically, flipping the pages of the old book before him. Lucy’s shoulders fell in defeat. There was no point in arguing with Natsu, not even on a good day, which this was not.

“What is this thing?” Natsu asked finally, turning the book on its side, presumably to examine a picture at a different angle. He squinted, bringing the book closer to his nose. Lucy rolled her eyes.

“It’s a collection of Madison’s research,” She explained, folding her legs under her on the bed next to Natsu. “I was reading it to get an idea of what we’re dealing with.”

“And did you?” He turned his head to look at her.

“No, nothing really.” Lucy sighed. She reached over and turned back a few pages to show Natsu an image she was looking at before he’d arrived and scared her. “This is the closest I got to a lead. It’s a picture of Madison’s basement library before it was abandoned.” She pointed to the shelf they’d been before just this morning. “I was thinking we could use it to identify the book, but the picture is too blurry and if it was planted today it wouldn’t be in this picture anyway, so that was a bust.”

Natsu blinked at the picture a few times. He seemed to be thinking about something, but Lucy couldn’t begin to guess what it was. Eventually he smiled at her.

“You’ll figure it out,” He chuckled, planting the book in her lap. “And while you do, I’ll be getting some much needed shut-eye.”

Lucy smiled, shoving him lightly. “Not in my bed you won’t. On the floor, Salamander.”

Natsu laughed, winked at her, and then slipped to the rug with a cushion beneath his head. Lucy rolled her eyes again, settling against the wall the way Natsu had been and began to read.

.

The next day was cold and wet, typical weather far north of Magnolia. Lucy had a headache from listening to the drops of rain on the roof combined with Natsu’s incessant groaning.

They had hopped a wagon back at the guild and were on their way to a little town not many had visited but most knew. It was called Fernhold.

_“Fernhold?” Lucy repeated dubiously. “Well, we were close.”_

_Levy giggled at Lucy’s embarrassment. She had several books in front of her on the table and a stack of paper with detailed notes organized in delicate handwriting._

_“It’s a small town,” Levy continued, scanning her notes, “But really well known because of their publishing company. All major works pass through their hands at one point or another. Look:” Levy plucked a random book from the table in front of her and flipped it, pointing to the insignia at the bottom of the back cover. Lucy observed an embellished FH stamped there._

_“Publishing company huh… I guess that’s a good place to start when looking for a book.” Lucy shrugged._

_“That’s what I thought,” Levy nodded. “But the funny thing is I didn’t go to Fernhold to find the book, the book brought me to Fernhold.”_

_“Try that again?” Lucy raised an eyebrow in confusion. Levy folded her arms, very much resembling a teacher about to give a lecture._

_“When you told me what the book looked like, and what you thought the name sounded like, I sifted through my library for anything that matched. At first I didn’t find anything,” She explained, pointing to a few of the other books she’d seemingly tried. “I couldn’t find one town history book that matched your description. But then,” Levy raised her finger, pointing it accusingly at Lucy. “I started to think like you. Well, more specifically, you when you’re panicked.”_

_“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Lucy crossed her arms, pouting. Levy laughed._

_“Our minds work differently when we’re afraid,” Levy assured her, “Things you think are really important, glaring details are actually really small ones. So I looked through my library again from a different perspective and found…” She reached behind her, producing a relatively thick, hardcover book. “This! The title isn’t in black letters, like you said, but the editor’s name is. And so is the fine print. And the book cover is a yellow color, not brown, but in the dark it definitely could’ve looked it.” Levy smiled, handing the book to Lucy to inspect. “As for the blue dots… well the best I can guess is there was an ink splatter stain.”_

_“Levy,” Lucy exclaimed, excited, “This is it! This is the book! I’m sure of it!” She placed the book down, hugging her friend fiercely. “You’re incredible!”_

_“I know, I know,” Levy bowed, “But don’t thank me yet. Fernhold is a ways away; I wouldn’t travel there on foot. Trains don’t run there because of the size, so you’re left with a wagon.”_

_Lucy heard Natsu groan beside her. She laughed._

_“Does Fernhold have any link to Madison?” Lucy asked, her curiosity piqued._

_“None that I’ve found,” Levy responded. “Well, nothing abnormal anyway. All of his books have passed through there, but so has everybody’s. But it’s not a total loss!” She added quickly, seeing the crestfallen look on Lucy’s face. “I didn’t find anything connecting Madison to Fernhold, but I decided to do some more research on the town itself. Only… I couldn’t get a hold of anyone.”_

_“No one?” Natsu leaned forward, brushing his shoulder against Lucy’s. She didn’t notice._

_Levy shook her head. “Not one person. Droy has family there, so I tried contacting them next, but the same thing happened. As it turns out, no one’s heard anything from Fernhold for a few weeks now.”_

_“That’s so strange… And no one’s reported it? No one’s gone to check it out?” Lucy found it hard to believe an entire town could disappear without anyone noticing._

_“From what I can tell, people are accrediting it to a bad growing season; trying to save resources and all.” Levy shrugged. “Seems like a weak excuse to me, but you know how some people are.”_

_“Well,” Natsu exclaimed, slamming his fist into his open palm, “Looks like we’re taking a trip up north!”_

“Why are we doing this?” Natsu moaned, clutching his stomach in agony. “I feel like I’m going to throw up last week’s lunch.”

“Keep it away from me,” Lucy shrieked, jerking her knees away from him. Natsu let his eyes drift closed, focusing on the feel of wind on his face.

“Happy was right to stay home, I should listen to him more often.”

Lucy sighed and leaned forward to see the road ahead. If she was right, Fernhold shouldn’t be much farther from where they were.

Suddenly she felt the wagon lean to the right, earning an undignified grunt from Natsu. Lucy rolled her eyes, looking to see what the wagon was swerving to avoid. The rain was heavier now, and it was making the scenery grey and dark, but she was able to make out a shadowed figure in the road to her left.

“Hey,” Lucy called to the driver of their wagon, “Can you stop for a second please?”

The wagon lurched forward as it came to a stop. Natsu looked relieved, trying to collect himself before attempting to stand. Lucy leaned her head over the edge of the wagon again, the rain pelting her newly unprotected head. The cloth roof collected pools of water at its edges, dumping them in loud splashes on all corners of the wagon.

“Hello?” Lucy yelled, trying to be heard over the sound of the rain. The shadowed figure was slowly taking the shape of an elderly woman, hobbling in the direction they had just come from. Lucy tried desperately to see her face under the hood of her thick wool cloak, but with the weather and the receding daylight, it was nearly impossible.

“Excuse me!” Lucy tried again, reaching out to the old woman. She had shuffled to the side of the wagon now, close enough for Lucy to touch. She stretched her hand out, placing it gently on the old woman’s shoulder so as not to startle her. “Please, I’d just like to offer-”

“WITCH!” The woman screeched, her voice shrill and crackling. All at once she shot her arm up and grasped Lucy’s wrist in a vice grip, throwing the young girl away from her. Lucy jumped back, bumping into Natsu. “DEVIL WOMAN!”

“What’s wrong?!” Lucy panicked, scrambling to calm the old woman. “There’s been some misunderstanding, we want to help!”

The woman’s frail body was shaking violently, visible even in the relentless rain. Lucy wanted to reach out to her again, but feared she’d throw another fit. The woman looked up at Lucy then, wrinkled mouth open in a small ‘o’. Lucy gasped.

Her eyes. Her eyes were white. She was blind.

“Oh my god…” Lucy whimpered, pity washing over her in waves. “I’m so sorry,” She apologized. The woman spat, her spittle landing in a phlegmy blob in the mud. She began to mutter words in a language Lucy didn’t understand before turning and continuing her walk.

Lucy watched, shocked, until the woman was out of sight, descending over the hill behind them. “I must’ve scared her…” She trailed, sinking to the floor of the wagon. Natsu, now recovered, hopped to the wet ground and held out a hand to her.

“It wasn’t your fault,” He assured her, “You were just trying to help.”

“I should’ve been more careful,” She insisted.

Natsu was silent. He continued to hold his hand out to her. “Come on,” He coaxed. “Let’s walk the rest of the way on foot.”

Lucy nodded, taking his hand and joining him on the road. The rain helped sober her, bringing her focus back to the task at hand.

Still, the woman settled into a distant corner of her brain, preparing for an extended stay.

The wagon driver pulled over to let them pass as Natsu explained their decision to walk. It was clear now, to Lucy, why Natsu had wanted to walk in the first place. When she looked, she could see the rising walls of Fernhold on the top of a low sloping hill. It looked dark, still, and quiet… like an abandoned town.

Lucy instinctively gripped Natsu’s sleeve as they approached, the town and the woman setting her on edge. Natsu didn’t seem to notice; he was relieved they would soon be at their destination and able to find food and rest.

“I hope they have decent eats here,” He said aloud, his stomach growling audibly. “I’m sick of bread and fish.”

Lucy ignored him, taking in the looming exterior and tall gates. The town was surrounded by a forest, thick with all types of trees but no animals. The muddy road was the only way to access Fernhold, and that was making Lucy feel very trapped.

They were getting close enough to hear and smell the daily lives of the villagers, but only the smell of rain filled her nose.

“Let’s just worry about finding somewhere safe to sleep,” Lucy suggested, glancing around at the surrounding trees. They looked black in the cloud cover.

Her step had quickened, although she wouldn’t have noticed it if Natsu hadn’t come to an abrupt halt. She felt her arm jerked back, jarring her to a stop. Lucy’s bangs fell into her eyes, momentarily blinding her.

“Hey what’s the big-?” She demanded, forgetting her unease. But Natsu wasn’t looking at her. He was staring straight ahead at the gates.

“What in the hell…?” He trailed, his eyes shifting over the large wooden doors before them. Lucy turned her attention to them as well, her eyes widening.

The wood was tarnished with rough scratches and violent streaks of what appeared to be red paint. Strange symbols colored the walls, staring them down like a serious warning. As Lucy took in the horrendous sight, she dropped Natsu’s arm.

The haphazard scrawl slowly turned into crooked words before her eyes, written as though a small child had gotten a hold of a paintbrush built for larger hands. The letters were large and shaky, formed with the uncertainty of fingers not yet accustomed to the bend and curve of the words. Lucy took a small step forwards, straining to read through the rain.

“What does that mean?” She asked, unable to tear her eyes away from the vandalism to look to Natsu for answers; if she had, she’d have seen his uncertainty. Natsu didn’t answer her; he stood there, unable to move in his shock. He read the words over and over, grasping for some meaning but coming up empty handed.

“ _La Lumiére de la Nuit,”_ Lucy read, the words foreign on her tongue. “ _Fear La Lumiére de la Nuit.”_


	3. Chapter 3

_Hate in hiding furious fuel,_

_To overthrow a tyrant’s rule._

_Into the darkness shadows slip,_

_Sun falling to Night’s cold nip._

_There they lie in wait of time,_

_For when the bell will loudly chime._

_Announcing a new era to set free,_

_Of La Lumiére de la Nuit._

Lucy’s mouth was dry. Her tongue felt swollen beneath her lips. The words scrawled across the entrance to Fernhold had branded her mind with a mystery she had to solve. The rain filled the silence around them, pummeling the ground with brutal force. She swallowed.

Natsu stepped in front of her then, reaching out to knock on the crippled wood. His fist made a dull thud in the growing dark; it was not enough to wake even the lightest of sleepers. He pounded harder, poorly rewarded for his efforts.

“We’ll have to go in,” Lucy whispered, knowing Natsu could hear her. He glanced back at her, held her stunned gaze for a few seconds, and nodded. Lucy watched as he shouldered the gate, applying just enough pressure to ease it open.

She expected alarms. She expected a shout. She expected _something_. Even as Lucy took Natsu’s hand and slipped between the sodden wood planks she held out hope. The town left her disappointed.

It was darker inside the town than it was on the road. Lucy’s eyes took a moment to adjust before she was able to thoroughly examine her surroundings. The shock hadn’t quite left her heart, and maybe that was putting her on edge, but when she saw the state of the buildings around them she gasped.

The same graffiti defaced the walls of every home in sight; even the shops were decorated with the gruesome messages. Copies of the symbols outside were placed haphazardly on walls next to new symbols and words in a variety of languages. ‘Fear’ was a recurring word.

Lucy jumped as her back collided with a solid surface. She reached out, realising she’d backed up into the now closed gate. The wet wood felt cold through the fabric of her cloak and brought a violent chill to her spine. She gripped the edges of the fabric tightly, pulling the garment securely around her shaking body. She couldn’t see a single person in the darkened streets; not even footprints found themselves in the newborn mud.

“Hello?” Natsu yelled. He’d wandered a few feet further than Lucy; he was only a few paces from what looked like a butcher shop. He peered through the window, rapping loudly on the glass. Each piercing knock made Lucy flinch. “Anyone around?”

No one answered his call after several seconds. Lucy’s heart was pounding so forcefully it drowned out the rain.

“I don’t think anyone is here,” Natsu sighed finally. “It’s weird though; I can smell people everywhere.”

Lucy didn’t answer. She hadn’t said a word since they’d entered Fernhold. Natsu turned to her, giving her a curiously soft look. Her features were fragile, delicate, like a light breeze would put her off balance. Natsu’s eyebrows pulled together in concern. He mustered a comforting smile and shone it to her, speaking warmly.

“Come on, there has to be somewhere close that’s dry. We’ll regroup and start figuring this out.” He jerked his chin over his shoulder towards the center of town. Lucy blinked, breaking her trance, and nodded. She took a shaky step away from the gate and listened as the mud parted to admit her shoe with a loud squelch.

She walked a step or two behind Natsu, keeping her mouth firmly closed. Her lips had begun to stick together and it was irritating her, but not enough to fix it. All around her the houses of people she didn’t know stood seemingly abandoned and sadly empty. The building style was similar to that found in Magnolia, but the wood lacked warmth and the stone was rough with wear.

There was a loud crack beneath Lucy’s toe. She looked to see a shard of glass shattered beneath her foot. Glancing at the house next to her, she saw the source of the piece. The windows were smashed on the first floor, and cracked on the second. She kicked the glass out of the way and picked up the pace.

Natsu stopped every few feet to sniff the air. In the rain, Lucy knew, his nose didn’t work quite as well, but it was still an effective tool. Occasionally he would change directions suddenly, jolting her.

“Hey, over here,” Natsu said suddenly. Lucy lifted her head, peering over Natsu’s shoulder. In front of them stood a large building made of solid stone and wooden planks. It was different than the rest; it gave off an air of professionalism. Lucy pushed her wet hair out of her eyes, squinting to read the words etched into the small sign over the metal door.

_Printing Press_

“This must be the factory,” Lucy whispered, her voice sounding hoarse. “Levy said they produced most of the books in Fiore.”

“It looks sturdier than these other places,” Natsu observed, testing the doorknob in his hand. It resisted, but turned to admit them. “It’ll probably be dry in there.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Lucy agreed, examining the factory more closely. It was also covered in symbols and phrases, layered so thickly it altered the perceived color of the walls. Lucy cast her eyes to the ground, blocking them from her view. She needed to pull herself together so she could try and decipher these messages.

Inside, the building was dark. The air around them was heavy with it, clouding Lucy’s vision. She reached out instinctively, feeling for something to grasp. Despite the darkness the atmosphere was warmer than in the streets, and for that she was relieved. She began to shrug off her cloak.

“Maybe we can find some food in here,” She suggested, turning to where she thought Natsu would be. “Light a flame and I’ll see if I can track down some lanterns-”

She was startled by Natsu’s hand on her shoulder; she recognized the abnormal warmth of his skin. In the dark, she couldn’t tell what he was doing, but she knew he was close. The skin on the back of her neck prickled, indicating her was merely inches behind her.

“Shh,” He whispered in her ear. Lucy held her breath. She could hear him sniffing in all directions, his breathing slow and calm.

“What’s going on?” She asked softly, leaning backwards in his general direction. Natsu’s silence was making her nervous.

“I don’t think we’re the only ones-” Natsu began to say, but he was cut off by a loud crash to their right. All at once the room burst into an orange light emanating from Natsu’s fists. His fire illuminated their surroundings so quickly Lucy had to close her eyes. Suddenly the sound of shuffling feet filled the room around them, followed by the clattering of items on hard ground. Lucy opened her eyes and looked around wildly, taking in the room as quickly as she could.

There were people everywhere.

From what she could tell, the entire town of Fernhold had crammed themselves into this small space. Groups of individuals huddled in corners and under work benches, twisting wildly in confusion. Lucy looked to their right where a small child had knocked over a pile of tools causing the crash they’d heard. The people, dressed in rags and blankets, looked panicked and distressed, but otherwise harmless. Natsu lowered his hands, dimming the flame ever so slightly.

“The townspeople,” Lucy whispered, shocked. “What are they doing here?”

Natsu seemed to be wondering the same thing. He cocked an eyebrow sharply, giving him an older appearance. Lucy watched as he cupped his hands to his mouth.

“Hey, is there someone in charge around here?” He yelled. The villagers continued to shuffle uncomfortably, no one venturing an answer. Lucy waited for someone to stand up, or say something, anything, but only tense quiet met them. If Lucy listened closely, she could hear the whimpers and sobs of small children. Her stomach clenched.

“We’re not here to hurt anyone,” She assured them, examining the scared faces in front of her. “Please, we just have some questions.”

She waited a moment longer, only to be rewarded with continued silence. Lucy’s shoulders dropped; she turned to Natsu, who had kept quiet after his initial greeting.

“I’ll speak with you,” The voice was soft, so soft they almost missed it. Lucy turned to see a young woman, no older than her, in a grubby grey dress and a moth eaten shawl. She had a thin wisp of brown hair covering her face; the rest of her hair was pulled into a tight ponytail. The woman held out a hand towards Lucy, waiting patiently for her to take it. “My name is Amel.”

“Thank you,” Lucy smiled, taking her hand graciously. Amel held her hand for a moment, concentrating, until she smiled warmly. “I’m Lucy, and this is Natsu. Do you have any lanterns here? We can light them for you.” She nodded to Natsu’s flaming fists, shrugging her shoulders in amusement. The woman tilted her head to the left ever so slightly, biting her bottom lip.

“I wouldn’t be able to tell you,” She admitted sadly. Lucy was about to ask why when then woman lifted her head, her hair falling away from her eyes like the slow opening of a curtain. “I haven’t needed a lantern in some time.”

Lucy held back a gasp. Amel’s face was pale and her skin muddled with dirt and sweat. Her lips were thin and papery, and her nose small and delicate. However, Lucy had to take a small step back when she saw her eyes. They were burned.

Where Amel’s eyes should have been there were two thick, ugly, pink scars. The edges were seared and scabbed, with dried blood still collected there. The wounds looked old enough to no longer be painful, but young enough that they hadn’t fully healed. Amel was completely and unnaturally blind.

“It’s ok everyone,” Amel assured the rest of the townspeople. “They’re not here to hurt us.”

Lucy watched as everyone in the room visibly relaxed, lifting their hoods, blankets, and hair. Her eyes grew wide with horror as more and more people revealed their own scarred faces, eventually leaving no one with their vision.

The whole town had been blinded.

Lucy released a small scream.

Natsu, who’d been quiet up until now, stared in disbelief at the group of people. Not a single one was free of the wretched scars marring their faces. There was even a cluster of small children with similar scars that hadn’t healed as well as the older villagers’. Natsu’s muscles tensed; he stood paralysed before the crowd.

“No one here has needed lanterns for weeks,” Amel explained sadly, gesturing around her. She still had, Lucy noticed now, the unsure movements of someone not yet used to being without sight. “We’ve all been living here to help each other cope.”

“What happened?” Lucy whispered, the shock evident in her shaking voice, “What did this?”

Amel’s chin dropped. She squeezed her hands together tightly, twisting her fingers around each other.

“We don’t know,” She admitted, a catch in her voice. “I’ll explain more in private. Can you lead me somewhere with no people?”

Lucy nodded, and then realised with a pang of guilt that Amel couldn’t see her. She cleared her throat. “Of course, here, take my hand.” Lucy brushed her fingers lightly against Amel’s, prompting her to grab on. Amel smiled weakly, securing Lucy’s hand in hers.

Natsu had snapped out of his shock and was now leading the way for Lucy and Amel. He directed them around a corner and down a hallway, eventually ducking into a small office. Lucy carefully helped Amel into the room, closing the door behind them. She then rooted around in desk drawers and closets until she found what she was looking for: a lantern.

Natsu lit the lantern and placed it on the desk in front of him. The office looked to be that of a CEO or Director, someone of importance. Everything was in perfect order, not a pencil out of place. Lucy looked for a name on something, but she couldn’t find anything. Amel had felt her way to the only chair in the room and seated herself facing the heat of the lantern. Lucy waited for her to take the lead in the conversation.

“It happened a few weeks ago,” Amel sighed, shifting in her chair. “I can’t tell you exactly what day it was. I was outside with my little sister, we were gardening. The ground is really fertile around here.”

The lantern crackled.

“Anyway, the day started out normal. We don’t get many visitors out here so it’s usually pretty quiet. On this day though, we did get someone come to town. I don’t know who, just that they had family in the area they were looking for; the guard at the gate did a quick run around the town asking for information,” She explained.

“Who was the family they were looking for?” Lucy coaxed.

Amel scoffed bitterly. “They said they were looking for Kale. I just laughed at the guard, told him to send them away because they obviously weren’t from around here if they were asking for _him_.”

“Kale?” Natsu repeated. “Who’s that?”

“An old legend,” Amel continued. “He was a crime lord back in the day, supposedly. There was an older man, I heard, who called himself Kalem and was supposed to be this guy’s descendent or something, but he left town a few years before my time.”

“So, if that’s the case,” Lucy pursed her lips. “Why would someone be looking for a legendary criminal?”

“Beats me,” Amel shrugged. “The guard thanked me for my time and went on, never heard from him or the visitors again.”

Amel paused to let the information sink in. Lucy chose not to say anything, organizing the events in her mind and searching for any relevant details. She didn’t come up with anything significant, but she kept her thoughts filed away. After a few seconds, Amel picked up again.

“A few hours later is when the screaming started,” Her voice had grown soft, her head down in remembrance. “It came from the center of town first. I told my sister to go back into the house, to stay there while I checked things out. Then I headed here.

“When I arrived there was madness. I couldn’t make heads or tails of what was going on. People were running around and screaming, banging into each other and everything else. There were others who’d fallen to the ground and were sobbing. I didn’t know what to do, so I just started to run.

“The next thing I remember I was on the ground in front of the factory. I tried to open my eyes but I couldn’t, and then there was this flash and pain flooded my whole body. I know now that only my eyes were being hurt, but I felt it everywhere, right down to my toes.” Amel paused to shudder. “I remember screaming for my sister, for someone to go get her and keep her safe, but everyone ignored me. They were dealing with their own pain, of course, but I didn’t know that then.”

Lucy swallowed; her throat was dry and pained. Her body had gone cold, but she was too afraid to move and warm herself. Her shoulders felt awkward and stiff.

“I don’t really know what happened while I was screaming,” Amel admitted. “I know I blacked out, but I don’t know for how long. Someone had pulled me into the factory and given me a blanket before they’d been blinded themselves.”

“So you weren’t all blinded at once?” Lucy asked, her voice sounding odd even to her.

“No, we weren’t. I think it all happened in the same day, but I’m not sure.”

“Did you…” Lucy began, glancing at Natsu. He held her gaze, a small frown etched into his mouth. “Did you ever find your sister?”

“No,” Amel said bluntly. “Rumours have spread through the factory that some people were killed by the blinding. It was too much for them.”

“I’m sorry,” Lucy whispered.

“Thanks,” Amel smiled sadly. “I’m dealing with it. For now I’ve been busy trying to keep the rest of us alive.”

“How exactly have you been doing that?” Lucy asked, genuinely curious. Amel shrugged.

“We’ve been getting by. A lot of people managed to get back to their houses and get some food. Even more people brought back blankets. We divided them as best we could, but I’m sure there’re some people we missed. We’ve been trying to keep track of everyone by their voices, but it’s not an easy thing to get used to.”

“It’s amazing you’ve all gotten this far.” Natsu admitted, rubbing the back of his head slowly. His pink locks bounced across the tops of his fingers, kissing his knuckles.

“We’ve had some help.” Amel insisted. “One of the town elders has been blind since she was a girl, so she knows how to get by on her own. She took control here at the factory.”

“She did?” Lucy asked, hope sparking in her stomach. “Where is she? Can we speak with her?”

Amel shook her head. “She left a few hours ago; she said she was going to find a town somewhere and get help. I’ve been pretty worried about her honestly… she’d not exactly all there.”

Lucy’s thoughts flashed to the woman they’d passed on the road to Fernhold. Her instincts began to flash wildly; she knew that’d been the elder.

“What’s her name?” Natsu asked. His posture hadn’t changed; Lucy assumed he hadn’t yet made the connection.

“Rosaline,” Amel smiled a little. “She’s my great aunt on my father’s side. My sister and I lived with her.”

“Ok,” Lucy clapped her hands together, the sound making Amel and Natsu jump. “We’ll go find Rosaline and make sure help gets back here, I promise.” She reached out slowly to grasp Amel’s hand, holding it comfortingly in hers. “Before we go is there anything we can do? Do you need anything?”

Amel tilted her head up, “Bringing help back to us is all I can ask and more. Thank you, Lucy.”

“I just have one last question,” Natsu added quickly. Lucy raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing.

“Go ahead,” Amel nodded. “Anything to help.”

“Who put all this graffiti on the buildings?” He looked up in thought. “It’s a bit too gothic for decoration, and way too much for just some kids writing on the walls. Has it always been there or is it new?”

Amel cocked her head to the side. “Writing?” She repeated. “What writing?”

.

Natsu and Lucy made sure that Amel found her way back to the main room of the factory before returning to the gate to find their wagon. They had planned to stay the night, but Lucy felt they needn’t use up any of Fernhold’s resources if they didn’t have to. Natsu agreed wholeheartedly so they moved on.

They found the wagon and driver about a five minute walk from the front gate to the town. He’d just settled in for the night and seemed grumpy about being woken, but agreed to take them back early. Lucy pulled the tarp open from the back of the wagon and crawled in, shivering with the dampness.

“What on earth would cause something like that?” Lucy whispered, more to herself than to Natsu who’d hoisted himself up into the wagon just after her. He fell back against the cold wood floor, linking his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.

“I guess that’s what we need to find out,” He answered lazily. Lucy tucked her knees into her chest, her stomach still tight from the events of the day. Natsu opened one of his eyes, assessing Lucy. She was looking down, not at him, her mouth in a thin line and her eyes drooping sadly. He bit his lip. Natsu knew this was affecting Lucy badly, that she felt personally responsible for all the people in Fernhold. If he left her to her own devices, she’d beat herself up over it for years to come.

“Hey,” He whispered. Lucy looked up, seeing Natsu holding a hand out to her like he’d done so many times before. She took it, relishing in the familiarity of his touch. Natsu pulled on her hand lightly and she followed, lying beside him on the floor of the wagon.

“We’re going to help those people,” He insisted, shooting her a grin she’d come to know and love. “Promise.”

Lucy smiled at him. Natsu felt his spirits lift with hers. Lucy, he decided, was his responsibility, and he’d make sure she’d never despair over this town again.

The wagon lurched forward then, the driver finally prepared and leaving. Natsu’s face fell immediately, the sickness evident in his eyes. Lucy giggled softly, curling herself into Natsu’s warmth with her arm draped over his chest. Natsu groaned, falling into the nausea that came with every trip on wheels.


	4. Chapter 4

It was still dark when the rickety wagon stopped at the doors of the guild hall. Lucy was the first to wake, stretching her arms high above her head and shivering with pleasure at the satisfying crack her shoulders made. Natsu was beside her, a green tinge to his normally pale complexion. She rolled her eyes. The man was iron-willed, but his stomach failed him. She lifted herself and flexed, preparing for an uphill battle when getting Natsu’s limp body to move.

“Thanks,” Lucy called to the driver; he’d seen her struggling and hopped down to help, although he grumbled all the while. Natsu slumped to the ground with an agonized moan, curling himself into a tight ball. Lucy wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead; the sight really was pitiful. The driver grunted to her again, tipped his hat to Lucy, and retired to his horse for a few hours of sleep. Lucy waved after him, appreciative of the help the little man had given them.

Turning back to Natsu, Lucy sighed, her weight shifted to one hip. She wouldn’t be able to cart him into the guild hall by herself, let alone all the way back to his place. She’d have to try and find someone to help her if he didn’t recover quickly.

“Natsu,” She whispered, kicking him lightly. Natsu responded with undistinguishable sounds that reminded her of a vomiting cat. She rolled her eyes. “Natsu!” She repeated more forcefully, kneeling to inspect his face. His eyes were closed, but his eyebrows were knit together in discontent. He was annoyed, but he was awake.

“Five more minutes,” he begged, waving Lucy off. He rolled away from her, turning his back so she couldn’t see his face anymore. Lucy groaned in frustration. Dealing with Natsu was like dealing with a child. She gave him a slight nudge with her toe, earning an indignant snort.

“Alright, alright” She conceded, her breath coming out in a sigh. “You stay here in the middle of the street, I’m going to see if Levy’s around.” Natsu nodded slowly, inching away from the door so as not to block her path. Lucy rolled her eyes yet again, she found herself doing that a lot lately, quickly looked around to make sure no one would step on him, and turned to enter the guild.

.

“Lucy!”

The hall was next to empty when Lucy firmly shut the door behind her. She wasn’t used to being here in the wee hours of the morning, and the lack of life was a little disconcerting, especially after the night she’d had. Mirajane was behind the counter, as always, catering to a drunken Cana. The familiarity was comforting, at least, as Lucy nodded to the two women. Mira smiled back while Cana didn’t even acknowledge her presence. Lucy began to question her consciousness.

Levy was the only other person she could immediately see, and her table was scattered with books of all different shapes and sizes. Lucy was less than surprised; when Levy wasn’t flanked by Jet, Droy, or Gajeel, she was lost in a stack of books. The blue-haired mage nodded to her sleepily, her eyes focussed on the page before her. Lucy laughed, realising Levy didn’t register who she was nodding at.

“Hey Levy,” Lucy announced, managing a weak smile. Levy’s head shot up at the sound of her friend’s voice, the drowsiness abandoning her like a gust of wind had blown it all away.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Levy began, her words coming in a rush. She seemed ignorant to the melancholy tone to Lucy’s normally cheerful disposition. “I’ve been reading all night trying to find out more for you. I’ve come up with some really cool stuff you might be interested in.”

“That’s great,” Lucy admitted, trying to be genuinely interested in the book Levy was shoving towards her. As she reached for the book, her hand hesitated, briefly wondering if she could absorb any more information tonight. Something seemed to click with Levy as she caught Lucy’s hesitation. She stopped suddenly, glancing at Lucy with a quizzical look.

“Wait a minute,” She blinked. “Why are you back already? And why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

“Fernhold wasn’t exactly what we were expecting,” Lucy answered quietly, sitting at the table across from Levy. She signalled to Mirajane that she’d like a cup of something strong, ignoring the bewildered expression she gathered from both her and Levy.

“You never drink,” Levy trailed, concern coloring her voice, “I’m almost afraid to ask, but what the hell happened?”

Lucy took a couple of gulps from her glass, taking comfort in the burn that trickled down her throat. It was true, she didn’t drink often, and when she did it was usually a lightly flavored fruity drink. Hard liquor was not her thing. She swallowed, hanging her head glumly.

“It’s a lot to explain,” She insisted.

“We have time,” Levy assured her, gesturing for Mira to join them. Lucy looked between her friends, reading the expressions on their faces. She knew both of the looks facing her now and knew there was no point to argue. She sighed, giving into the stubbornness she saw before her.

“Alright, alright,” With a heaving breath, Lucy divulged all of her information to the other wizards, sparing no gory detail. The girls responded as Lucy expected they would: Levy listened with gradually widening eyes, the shock evident on her face, and Mira just stared, her features frozen in place.

“…And the weirdest part was when we asked them about the symbols, they didn’t know what we were talking about.” Lucy sighed finally, dropping her head to the table. It landed with a thud on a thick encyclopedia. Her breath was coming easier now than it had been yesterday. Now that she’d gotten some rest and told her friends everything she knew, she felt a bit better. A full night’s sleep now would do her worlds of good.

“Wow,” Mirajane breathed. Worry was etched into her delicate features. “Those poor people…”

“We stopped into the nearest town and made sure someone knew about the situation,” Lucy assured her. “They told us they’d send people right away.”

“That’s a relief,” Mirajane nodded. She closed her eyes in consideration, mulling the story over and over in her mind. Lucy could see the puzzle pieces falling into place in her brain, but was too exhausted to attempt to do the same. “What on earth could’ve done something like this?” She asked finally, missing crucial bits of information.

“I wish I knew,” Lucy admitted. “We were supposed to get answers in Fernhold, but we just found a mountain of more questions. Better still, I have no idea what this has to do with Madison. It may be completely unrelated for all I know, and I don’t know if that’s better or worse.” Mira nodded gravely, the thought crossing her own mind as well. “I hate to ask, I really do, but I’m hoping you can help with this, Levy,” Lucy glanced over to the blue-haired girl sitting across from her, and was momentarily stunned.

Levy’s face had turned to ash; her rosy cheeks now a dreary grey. Lucy sat bolt upright, reaching across the table for Levy’s hand. The chilled skin that met her nearly drove her to a panic. “Oh my- Levy, are you ok?” She demanded.

Levy’s eyes were downcast. Her face was dark, and yet somehow it was alive with emotion: fear, understanding, dread, shock, and many, many others Lucy couldn’t begin to identify. The guild hall around them was still mostly empty, but the few stragglers turned to look at their table in alarm. Mira reached for her as well, her hand placed delicately on Levy’s shoulder.

“I’m ok,” Levy whispered suddenly, her voice low and scared. Lucy and Mira gave her doubting glances. “No really,” She insisted, shaking herself free of her stupor. “I’m fine. I just- I think I’ve figured something out. I need to run back to my place and look up some things…” Levy looked to the clock on the wall above them, it was just after dawn. “Meet me back here tonight Lucy, I promise I’ll explain then.”

Levy suddenly jumped up from the table, knocking over several of her books. Lucy and Mira stared after her as she bolted for the front door, slamming it open and striking Natsu in the process. He yelped indignantly from his position on the ground, but Levy paid no mind as she took off towards the little cottage she shared with Gajeel.

Lucy was shocked into silence, left to sit next to Mira after Levy’s outburst. She turned to the white-haired mage; their expressions mirrored one another perfectly. Lucy released a shaky breath.

“Mira, I need another drink…”

.

“ _Something_ was bothering her,” Lucy insisted.

“She still didn’t need to be so rude,” Natsu grumbled. “That _hurt_.”

Lucy rolled her eyes. She and Natsu were halfway to her apartment, inching lazily along the canal that ran through town after several hard drinks on Lucy’s behalf. She felt lightheaded, but it was a welcome sensation. After Levy left, Natsu had stumbled into the guild with a dismal attitude radiating from his very core. The bump he’d gotten from the guild hall’s door had been enough to bring him to full consciousness, unfortunately for Lucy. She now had to listen to him complain about it all the way home.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean to hurt you,” Lucy groaned, her patience quickly thinning on the little sleep she had had. “It’s Levy. She never means to hurt anyone.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Natsu huffed. Lucy giggled a little, in spite of herself. After a good vent and a few drinks, she was relaxed enough to get some sleep and she couldn’t wait to do just that. Her apartment building was in view now, and all at once the aftereffects of two wagon trips in one day hit her muscles like a tidal wave. Her back cramped, her legs ached, her head was pounding, and her shoulders were stiff. Not to mention she was hungry. Her stomach clenched in discomfort. Lucy groaned.

“I’ve never been so happy to get home,” She sighed, gripping the doorknob with enthusiasm. The alcohol had served to numb the discomfort a little, but it still nagged at her. Natsu followed her up the stairs and into her room, using the doors for once. It was strange, almost, Natsu behaving like a normal human being. Lucy smiled at him.

“I’m going to go change into some pajamas,” She told him, yawning. “Can you go to the fridge and see if I have anything to eat? I can make us a snack before we turn in for the day.”

Natsu shrugged but nodded. He was clearly still irritated from his knock on the head. Lucy raised her eyebrows at him until he turned towards the kitchen allowing Lucy to shut the door gently behind him.

Lucy surveyed her room sleepily. She wanted nothing more than to curl up in her bed, but her hunger was gnawing at her and wouldn’t allow sleep until it was addressed. So she turned to her dresser instead, looking for the softest pair of pajamas she could find.

She settled on a newer two piece: the bottom was lavender, made of soft satin, and the top was a dark grey cotton tank. She pulled the garments on over her aching limbs, relishing in the feeling of comfort the clothing brought her. She glanced down at herself then, noticing stains of dirt on her skin. She scrunched her nose, she hated being dirty. She hopped to the bathroom quickly to clean the mud from her hands and feet.

As she washed, she replayed the events of the day in her head. She had decided already not to think about it too much for the time being; if she did it would surely cause her more stress than she could afford. She would get some sleep and tackle the issue when she was refreshed. However, she couldn’t stop her mind from wandering occasionally.

_Madison. Fernhold. What did it mean?_

Halfway to the point of passing out already, Lucy emerged from the bathroom and made her way to the kitchen with determination. Food and sleep. That’s what she needed. She would go to the kitchen, where she expected to find Natsu chewing on uncooked food, eat something, and pass out. Plan: made.

What she found instead shocked her to her core.

Natsu was bent studiously over the counter, fiddling with an omelette that was about a minute away from being ready to eat. The omelette was in a cast iron pan; Natsu balancing it in his hand. He was circling a flame evenly around the surface of the food, touching it softly. On the counter around him were various additions to the egg masterpiece: spices, chopped vegetables, crumbled pieces of meat, all combining to create a warm, savoury smell that intoxicated her senses. Lucy’s jaw dropped.

“Oh hey,” Natsu mumbled, not taking his eyes off the pan in front of him. “It’ll be done in a second; I can hear your stomach from here.”

Annoyance bubbled in Lucy’s gut, but she suppressed it with the magnitude of her shock. Natsu wasn’t a chef- he wasn’t anything other than Natsu. How had he managed this?

“Um…” Lucy began, stumbling over her words, “Natsu… when did you…?”

“When you were in the bathroom,” Natsu answered happily, poking away at the cooking eggs. “I was hungry and you were taking forever.”

Lucy shook her head. “No, I mean, when did you learn how to cook?”

Natsu turned to look at her then, cocking his head to the side. “Learn? What’d you mean? I’ve always known how to cook.”

Lucy blinked at him. “You have?”

“Of course I have,” Natsu laughed, placing two plates in front of him on the counter. Lucy reached over and grabbed some glasses for juice, placing them on the table beside the plates. “I was raised by a dragon,” Natsu continued. “I know a thing or two about getting my own food. All Igneel ever wanted was raw meat.” He rolled his eyes at the memory, shaking his head.

Although this came as a shock to her, Lucy couldn’t help but be a little impressed. She smiled, holding out the plates for Natsu. He grinned at her, plopping two steaming meals on the dishes in her hands. She swung them to the table while Natsu plopped the pan in the sink, sweeping up the glasses with his newly freed hands and followed her to the table.

They ate in relative quiet, unusual for them, but Lucy was too enthralled by the food before her to say much. Natsu’s concoction was delicious- easily the best omelette she’d ever eaten. Much better than anything she could make. Natsu may be clueless about most things, but it was clear to her that he knew his way around a kitchen. She began to consider hiring him as a cook; it would be a way for him to pay her back for coming over to her place so much, uninvited to boot. She pictured Natsu huddled over the stove in a stiff chef’s hat and began to giggle.

“Well,” She sighed, leaning back in her chair. Natsu copied her, having finished his meal as well. “That was amazing, you should cook more often.”

He shrugged, his eyelids drooping before her. “Only if it means I get to eat your food.” Lucy grinned, her own eyes growing heavy. Natsu was full of surprises. He seemed to be the perfect combination of juvenile and adult, keeping her on her toes and having her back.

“Come on,” She insisted, yawning, “Let’s get some sleep.”

Natsu stood lazily, his limbs dragging as though they were weighed down. Lucy stretched as she stood, reaching out to grab Natsu’s arm. She tugged on his wrist, eager to get some much needed shut eye. Eventually he pulled himself together, entering her bedroom behind her.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep on the floor tonight,” He yawned, eying her bed hungrily. Lucy rolled her eyes, jerking her thumb towards the pillows.

“Yeah right Natsu,” She chided, “You could sleep on a bed of rocks. Besides, you can have on of those.”

Natsu winked at her, swiping a pillow from the stack she gestured to. “It was worth a shot,” he shrugged, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Lucy flushed and she contemplated kicking him out, but he was already making himself comfortable on her rug.

“Go to sleep, Natsu,” Lucy laughed instead, climbing into her bed with a secretive smile. She let her head fall to the pillow, briefly wondering why she _didn’t_ let Natsu sleep in the bed with her. It wouldn’t be any different than when they napped in the wagon. She rolled over then, opening her mouth to invite him up, when the deep thunder of his snoring assaulted her ears. She blinked in surprise, swallowing the tinge of disappointment with a fond curve of her lips.

“Night Natsu,” Lucy whispered, placing her hand over the edge of the bed so that it fell next to his.

.

“Alright,” Levy announced to their small assembly, “First and foremost, I want to apologize for my reaction this morning.”

Lucy dropped her chin into her hand, leaning on the table next to Natsu and Mirajane. The group had gathered after supper the next evening, Levy directing them to a table in the back corner of the guild. Gajeel stood next to her, leaning against a post with his arms folded.

“After Lucy told me what happened in Fernhold, I was a little… surprised.” Levy explained, chewing on her lip. “I needed some time to collect myself, but I’m fine now and ready to share with you what I know.”

“Well,” Natsu grumbled, yawning, “Get to it already.”

Lucy elbowed him.

Levy smiled. “Ok, so after everything you’ve told me, I can’t say I know what happened to the townspeople. From what I heard, it sounded like magic was the culprit, and without seeing the symbols I can’t really say what they mean.”

“I expected that,” Lucy sighed. “I tried my best to describe them, but it’s hard when I only saw them in the rain and dark.”

“I understand,” Levy nodded. “But, I did manage to translate the words you saw.” She pulled out a piece of paper and laid it out on the table. “La Lumiére de la Nuit. It means ‘the Light of the Night’ in French.”

“The light of the night?” Natsu repeated. He was never one for these conferences; Natsu was a take-action kind of guy, much like Gajeel. Lucy appreciated the effort he was putting in to be attentive. “What’s that?”

“I’m not sure,” Levy sighed, “I’m still working on that.”

“But that’s something,” Lucy insisted, memorizing both the translation and the original phrase. “It’s a start at the very least.”

“Exactly,” Levy grinned. “Now comes the part that will take some time to explain. You mentioned a legendary criminal, right?”

“Yeah, Amel mentioned him in her story.” Lucy confirmed.

“Well,” Levy’s eyes flickered downward for just a moment. Lucy caught the look, raising her eyebrow in response. Levy didn’t look vexed very often, but something was off about her in this moment. “The criminal you mentioned is a man named Kale.”

Mirajane dropped her glass.

Lucy jumped, staring at Mirajane in surprise. She was sitting bolt upright, a troubled shadow in her eyes. Levy met her gaze and nodded. Mira seemed to relax after this, but there was still a tense set to her shoulders that told Lucy this was going to be a serious conversation.

“Kale is a famous crime lord from just North of Fiore.” Levy explained. “From the time he was young he had a hand in almost every unsavoury practise imaginable. He collected for dealers, he executed hits for many organizations, he transported, sold, and traded people for work and… other things, and eventually, once he got older, he became the head of a massive organized crime system that ran all of these operations.”

“Busy guy,” Natsu mused.

“Incredibly so,” Levy agreed. “There’s a massive list of all his crimes throughout his years of activity, but I couldn’t possibly name them all now. The point is: he was the guy to go to for anything illegal.”

“So what’s his connection to Fernhold?” Lucy pressed.

“When Kale first rose to power, it last for a number of years. Out of nowhere he took a huge hit and was decimated to the point that he lost 90% of his employees.” Levy shifted her weight from foot to foot, different areas of her body twitching at random. “He left the area, came to Fiore, and started again. He had control over a decent sized area that included about six towns. Fernhold was one of them,” She paused, glancing to Gajeel who nodded. “And my hometown, Nessle, was another.”

Lucy’s eyes widened.

“I knew Kale personally,” Levy explained, shrugging. “He would come to town once every month recruiting employees, collecting taxes, vandalizing, terrorizing the townspeople, and just generally spreading fear of him and his work. My family didn’t have much, so we were targeted a fair amount.”

Gajeel took a step closer to Levy, offering his hand. She took it gratefully.

“When I was about seven he came to my parents and he told them if they didn’t give me to him as a payment, we would lose our home. My parents tried to refuse, but he took me anyway. Without getting into too much detail, I got away and headed back home as fast as I could. When I got there… well. My house was there, but my family wasn’t. That’s when I decided to join a guild, to get back at the people who did this.”

Lucy’s heart was aching. Levy was always so happy and positive; it was hard to believe her past was so haunted. She felt the urge to hug her friend, but resisted when she saw the look on Levy’s face.

“That brings me to recent history,” She took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “A few months back, Mira told me a job had been posted for Nessle. I recognized the name and took the job immediately; it was a warrant for Kale’s arrest.”

“It was the first job we ever took together,” Gajeel grunted. “He’s holed up now in the prison run by the magic council.”

“Kale’s disciples finally ratted him out to the right people,” Levy smiled triumphantly. “I got the revenge I needed.”

“That’s great, Levy,” Lucy smiled. “I’m so sorry to hear about everything…”

“Hey, it’s all in the past.” She insisted. “That’s why I got to weird when you brought him up this morning. I was just… Well, I was unprepared.”

“Alright, so we need to talk to this guy, obviously.” Natsu interrupted, the vein pulsing in his forehead to indicate he was thinking really hard about something. “He’s clearly connected to this whole thing somehow; the strangers were looking for him when the town was attacked. But there’s one thing I don’t understand. If Kale is this real guy who did these real things, why did Amel talk about him like he was some kind of myth?”

“Right,” Levy nodded, pulling a book out of her satchel. “I forgot to mention that. Kale, as Natsu said, is very real. However, it takes a long time to build an empire like he did, even longer to build _two_.”

“What’re you getting at, Levy?”

“This is a copy of the birth records from the North, Kale’s is on page 346.”

Levy handed the book to Lucy, who flipped to the aforementioned page. She scanned it, finding Kale’s name written there, as promised.

“Ok…” Lucy trailed, confusion coloring his face and voice. “I don’t see what this has to do with-”

“Lucy.”

Mirajane interrupted her thought, reading the birth records over Lucy’s shoulder. Lucy looked at her questioningly.

“Look at the year,” She instructed. Lucy obliged, tracing the full record with her finger.

“Kale Demionate, seven pounds, July second, year-” Lucy’s voice caught in her throat. She shot her gaze back to Levy, who nodded solemnly.

“Kale,” She said, “Is a legend because he was born over 200 years ago.”

Natsu slammed his hand on the table. “What?!” He exclaimed. “How the hell is that possible?”

“I don’t know,” Levy shrugged. “No one does. But I guess we can add it to the list of questions we’ll ask when we see him.”

“Wait, what?” Lucy shook her head, clearing her mind. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve taken the liberty of setting up a meeting with him,” Levy answered, shouldering her satchel and winking to the shocked wizards before her. “We leave tomorrow morning.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Thanks for doing this, Jellal,” Lucy smiled. She, Levy, Natsu, and Gajeel formed a haphazard line behind the blue haired wizard in formal attire. Jellal had met them at the gate when they’d arrived late last night, and shown them to their accommodations. He turned his head to grin at Lucy now, tipping his head politely. Admittedly, he looked pretty good in uniform. The white, pressed suit fit him well. She let her eyes wander, just a little.

“No trouble at all,” He insisted, swinging open the large wooden doors that led to the prison. The whole of the Magic Council was daunting to Lucy, but the containment area was far below the chambers of the magic council; through countless hallways and staircases. It had a different feel to the rest of the intricate building. It was… confusing, reassuringly so. Lucy couldn’t help but wonder how, even if a criminal did escape his cell, he’d be able to find his way out in all this madness. “You were all very kind to me in the past; it’s the least I can do.”

“Have you seen much of Erza since?” Lucy asked, trying to make it sound like she was just making casual conversation when really, she was itching to know every gory detail. Jellal blushed and turned his head to face forward.

“Er, well, no more than anyone else I guess. I mean, not that I don’t want to see her,” He added quickly, “Just that I don’t see her more than I should. I see her a perfectly normal amount.”

Lucy succumbed to giggles that deepened Jellal’s blush.

“We’re just about there,” He grunted, nodding in the direction they were headed. Lucy peered around him, observing the blue glow emanating from the door they were faced with. Excitement and nerves flooded her body at the same time, warring for a proper place in the pit of her stomach. Suddenly, she felt a pull on her arm as Levy stopped her momentarily.

“Listen Lucy,” Levy whispered, her eyes darting worriedly to the doors before them. Levy had been mostly quiet on the trip over, insisting she was fine with the situation and that she would prefer to come. But now, as she was about to enter the prison, Lucy began to question her resolve. “Before we go in there I just want to warn you.” She faced Lucy, holding her gaze with fierce intensity. “Kale is a sick bastard. Don’t let anything he says get to you, because he will try. He’s a predator, Lucy. His prey is anyone he thinks is weaker than him.” Levy mentally slapped herself; she feared the urgency in her heart hadn’t come out full force.

Lucy considered her words and nodded. She didn’t know what to expect of Kale, but dangerous men had never intimidated her before. But this was a different kind of dangerous; all of the evil they’d faced up until this point had been large scale magical villains with plans to take over the world, something Lucy used to see only in her books. Kale was different. Kale’s crimes were closer to home; they were more… _real_ in a sense. She gave Levy a confident smile.

“I’ll be careful, Levy, I promise.”

The blue haired mage nodded, but the unease was still evident in her eyes. Lucy reached out and took her friend in a hug. Levy stiffened, surprised, but eventually she relaxed into a smile. She returned the hug gratefully, tightly holding Lucy against her. Lucy suspected the hug was just as much for Levy as it was for Lucy.

“Come on, we’ll lose them in this maze.” Lucy pulled away, nodding to the door where everyone had gathered. Levy hesitated, made eye contact with Gajeel, inhaled, and took a step forward.

Kale’s cell was at the back of the prison. Blue cubes closed in on them from all sides, causing Lucy to feel a touch claustrophobic. Most of the cells were empty, but the odd one contained a slumped over, half alive excuse for a human. A cube passed by on Lucy’s right, coming close enough to disturb the air around her. She glanced down, assessing what looked to be a male in his late eighties. He wasn’t moving except for the gentle rise and fall of his back. Lucy tore her gaze away, fighting the shudder that danced down her spine.

“Here he is, admittance number 7462: Kale Demionate.”

Lucy peered around the group in front of her, trying to catch a glimpse of this fabled man. Jellal sidestepped, revealing a cube ever so slightly larger than the rest. Inside it, a man sat in the corner, his back pressed against the wall, his knees bent lazily before him. Lucy blinked in surprise; for a two hundred year old man, Kale looked as though he could be in his thirties. The man looked middle aged, at worst, with a powerful frame that Lucy could pick out even though he was curled.

Jellal knocked on the cube, the rapping echoing through the room. Kale lifted his head slowly, like he was annoyed at being disturbed. His face was striking, Lucy noticed. His eyes were so pale a blue they almost looked white, with large, dark pupils. They creased in the corners as he took in the party before him. His wide mouth pulled into a smirk, the movement smooth and fluid, like a well-oiled machine.

His dark hair was cropped close to the scalp around his head, with a thick sweep of hair flowing from the top of his head. His bangs swept across his forehead, just touching the tops of his eyebrows. Speckles of gray were scattered throughout, giving him a mature air. Lucy studied him closely.

“Well,” He drawled, his voice warm and tangy. His striking eyes zeroed in on Levy then, tucked halfway behind Gajeel’s massive body. His pupils sparked, “Hello, strumpet.”

Gajeel made a low sound in his chest that Lucy interpreted as a warning. The look on Levy’s face was clear discomfort. Her small hand was twisted in Gajeel’s shirt, attaching her to him. Lucy watched her closely.

“Hello Kale,” She whispered, her voice quiet but steady. Kale’s smile stretched a bit wider. He rolled his shoulders, shifting his weight to the side. Levy never took her eyes off of him, controlling her every move. Only her hand, tucked behind Gajeel’s back and not visible to Kale, betrayed her shaking.

“Now, what do I owe this visit?” Kale laced his fingers together atop his knees, his knuckles cracking audibly through his confinement. Levy inhaled, steadying herself.

“We have some questions for you,” Levy instructed. “We need you to answer them.”

Kale whistled, low and long. Levy held her stance, waiting patiently for him to speak. Lucy’s breath caught.

“Well now darlin’,” He droned. His voice, Lucy noted, should have had a pleasant quality to it, but the way he held himself and the way his mouth greased the words on their way out dampened the honey-sweet tone. “Can’t get nothin’ in this world for free.”

“What do you want?” Levy didn’t hesitate with her reply. Lucy suspected she had anticipated this bargain.

Kale chuckled, a low rumble from the depths of his gut. “Straight to the point I see. Well, it’s simple, poppet. A question for a question. I ask, you ask, we both leave this conversation happy. What’d you say?”

Levy nodded sharply. Kale revealed his teeth.

“Have you ever heard of the Light of the Night?” Levy asked.

“Yes’m,” Kale nodded. His grin turned a tainted form of seductive. “Now tell me, does the carpet still match the drapes, my sultry little bluebell?”

Gajeel took a hard step forward, his fists clenching at his waist. Levy remained steady, her mouth firmly shut. Lucy opened and closed her mouth a few times, working her jaw. Gajeel’s face had shifted from intimidating caution to pure, unfiltered murderous intent. Jellal struck the cube sharply with his sword, eliciting an amused cackle from Kale.

“Yes,” Lucy answered suddenly, stepping in front of her friend. Levy looked at her in alarm, reaching to place her hand on Lucy’s shoulder.

“What are you doing?” She whispered harshly.

“I dragged you into this,” Lucy insisted. “I’ll ask the questions. You’ve done your part Levy, and I really appreciate it,” She smiled. “Now it’s my turn.”

Levy opened her mouth to retaliate, but Gajeel yanked her back and nodded in gratitude (in his own way, anyway) at Lucy. She nodded, set her jaw, and turned back to Kale. “You’ll ask me the questions,” She said.

Kale quirked his lips in amusement. “This isn’t exactly what I bargained for,” He mused, assessing Lucy from head to toe. She waited patiently, ignoring the creeping, skin-crawling sensation he caused with his gaze. “But you’ll do. Ask away, lemon pop.”

“What is it?” Lucy voiced, “What is the Light of the Night?”

Kale laughed. “That’s a huge question, love. But I’ll do my best, for you.” He winked, “They’re not a what, they’re a who, first off. A pair of twin sister wizards.”

“Wizards?” Lucy repeated.

“Yes’m. Good ones, at that. La Lumiére de la Nuit is their… ‘stage name’, you could say.”

“What are their real names?”

Kale held up a slender finger. “Not yet Lemon, one question for one question,” He pursed his lips in thought. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

“Lucy,” She answered quickly. “Lucy Heartfilia.”

Kale’s eyes flared for just a moment, but he didn’t say anything about it. Instead he closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the wall behind him. “Epense and Umbara,”

“That’s their names?”

“Yes’m,” He began to tilt his head back and forth, like he was listening to music where there was none to be heard. Lucy tucked the information away, knowing full well that Levy was scribbling everything down behind her. “Are you a wizard, Lucy?”

“Yes,” She nodded. “Have you ever heard of Fernhold?”

“Yes. Do you prefer the morning or the night?”

“Night. What’s the significance of Fernhold to the twins?”

“Because I used to live there, I suppose. Chocolate or vanilla?”

“Chocolate. What do they want with you?”

Kale paused in the stream of question and answer. The corners of his mouth pulled up, giving him the appearance of a hunting shark. “Why, to kill me, of course.”

Lucy blinked. She was so busy processing the answer that she almost missed the next question.

“Are you a virgin?”

Lucy nodded, “Yes.” She could tell the others around her were becoming uncomfortable, but Lucy was determined. They were finally making headway with the investigation, and she wasn’t about to let some personal questions stand in her way. Jellal tilted his head in her direction, asking silently if she wanted him to intervene. She shook her head. “Why?”

Kale chuckled in that eerie tone of his. “This is a loaded question,” He warned. “I’ll have to ask one of equal weight of my own. Would you like to change your mind?” Lucy shook her head. “Very well, Lucy Heartfilia, there are a lot of reasons these girls want to kill me. I destroyed them, Lemon, I ruined their lives. I took from them the very life they fought for; I squashed the freedom they longed to achieve. I stole them, twisted them, and made them mine.”

The group stood still, the echoing of Kale’s voice was the only sound to be heard.

“I own them,” He breathed, fire lighting his strange eyes. “My biggest regret is letting them slip through my fingers. You see, Lemon, I was their-”

A loud, resounding crash cut him off.

The walls of the prison shook, small pieces of rubble trickling to the ground. The explosion had come from somewhere behind them, outside the prison, in the magic council building. Jellal gripped the sword at his waist, bracing his knees against the shaking.

“What the hell was that?” He demanded, whipping his head wildly around. Lucy had stumbled ever so slightly, falling into Gajeel. Levy had stumbled as well, catching herself on a nearby cell. Natsu looked slightly nauseous, but nothing compared to his normal motion sickness.

“Honey, I’m home,” Kale sung, chuckling.

Jellal pressed his hand against the cell, slamming his sword against the side with a resounding bang. “Do you know something about this?” Kale just blinked.

“I have to go,” Jellal growled, spitting on the cell. Kale waved. “I don’t have time for you. Come on,” He waved to the Fairy Tail wizards.

“Wait.”

Lucy turned on her heel; Kale’s head was up, making direct eye contact with her. She paused, her breath coming in measures.

“I still get one more question,” He smirked.

“You didn’t really answer mine,” Lucy insisted, her stomach twisting into a knot. Kale nodded his head in conceit.

“You’re right,” He admitted. “But you still got to ask.”

“Lucy,” Levy’s voice was urgent. “Let’s just go; forget this.”

Lucy chewed her lip. “It won’t hurt to just… let him ask,” She insisted. Kale’s voice was low when he spoke again, sending a chill through her. She feared that if she denied him now, she would somehow mark herself in his mind. If she complied, then hopefully in time he would forget about the little blonde wizard from Fairy Tail. She swallowed, and waited.

“What do you think you’re worth?”

Lucy’s stomach clenched. She didn’t understand the question, but her gut told her it wasn’t something she wanted to answer. Regardless, she couldn’t stop her curiosity.

“What do you mean?” She whispered.

Kale stood then, the full magnitude of his height pressing in on her. He appeared larger when he was standing, more intimidating. Lucy’s knees began to shake.

“Well then,” He sneered, his relaxed demeanor changing entirely to reveal the monster within the man. Lucy felt the fear he exuded even through the magical barrier between them. “Let me clarify: how much do you think your blonde, virgin cunt would get me on the black market?”

Lucy balked, her face draining of color. Natsu’s hand was on her arm, firmly, pulling her towards the door.

“Lucy, let’s go,” He whispered through gritted teeth. His body was tense, like Gajeel’s had been, and Lucy could see the restraint in his muscles. She took an involuntarily step backwards.

“I’M NOT DONE!” Kale slammed his fists against the side of his cube, causing the glass-like wall to quiver beneath the blow. Lucy stumbled, caught herself, and froze. Kale was shaking, his brow furrowed in manic concentration. “What do you think I could get if I promised my customers you’d scream for them? Do you think I’d get $100? $1000? More? For more, I think I’d need to offer more,” He spat, spittle erupting from his lips. “I’d need to know you could beg, you could bleed, you could _cry_. I would want to guarantee that when whatever sick bastard, and I’d make sure he was _sick_ , snaps you up, he can tie you to a post, beat in your pretty little face-”

“Stop,”

“-part your legs and laugh as you screech and beg for him to stop, to spare you, to kill you, to do anything but the HORROR you’re about to go through-”

“Stop it.”

“-and I want to tell him he can fucking watch the light leave your eyes as he takes from you your very _soul-”_

“SHUT UP!”

There was a brilliant flash of fire as Natsu’s fists collided with the cage where Kale’s face had been hovering just moments before. The cell shook violently, scorch marks appearing where Natsu struck. Lucy was stunned into silence, her eyes never wavering from the silent war before her.

Kale’s chest was heaving, his breath coming in elated bursts. Natsu was breathing just as hard, each exhale loaded with rage and fire. The two men were locked in a battle that she couldn’t possibly understand. Natsu’s eyes had darkened, holding Kale rigidly with his stare. The room had fallen deathly silent, the absence of noise pressing in on Lucy’s ears louder than anything she’d ever heard.

Kale made the first move, much to her surprise. The man’s shoulders began to shake, rocking with the ferocity of the laughter erupting from his gut. Natsu was steady, unflinching. He watched while Kale laughed, waited with a fierce intensity Lucy had never seen on him before. It was unsettling.

“I’ll kill you,” Natsu whispered suddenly. Kale’s laughter stopped as though someone had struck the pause button on him. He straightened his back, staring at Natsu squarely. Lucy found herself unable to breathe.

“What was that, little man?” His voice reminded her of a snake, slithering sneakily through the grass towards an unsuspecting victim. “I don’t believe I heard that right.”

“If you _ever_ come near Lucy,” Natsu continued, his words dripping with danger, “I will kill you.”

Kale didn’t laugh. Instead he began to whistle, a tuneless sound meant to taunt and irritate. The vein in Natsu’s forehead pulsed.

“Natsu!”

Jellal was ushering Levy and Gajeel out of the holding room, gesturing for Natsu and Lucy to follow. The others had gone on ahead, rushing towards the source of the explosion, but Natsu hesitated. He never tore his eyes away from the sick bastard before him.

There were a tense few moments where Lucy questioned if Natsu would leave, or stay and challenge Kale to a fight. It wouldn’t surprise her to find Natsu had planned this from the moment Kale opened his mouth; the man was infuriating. Lucy bit her lip, watching and waiting…the tension was palpable.

Jellal was now practically begging them to follow him, shifting his weight from foot to foot impatiently. Lucy pulled herself together, reaching her small hand towards Natsu’s large one. She brushed the inside of his palm as it lay at his side; it twitched towards her.

“Natsu,” She whispered, pleading in her voice.

Natsu winced but, albeit reluctantly, pulled himself free of the faceoff with Kale and reached for Lucy’s outstretched hand. Kale’s whistle deepened, the corner of his mouth pulling up into a grim smirk. Natsu’s glare could put Erza to shame as, never taking his eyes off of Kale, he wrapped his arm securely around Lucy. Kale watched with hungered eyes as Natsu turned her away from the demon before them.

Lucy counted their footsteps as they made their way to the door, the rhythmic slap of their feet on the floor serving as an introduction for Kale’s whistling. He had just struck up an eerily transformed rendition of a child’s lullaby when they reached Jellal, the door swinging closed behind them.

.

Lucy threw her focus into the movement of her legs. They felt numb, icy, and unreliable, but for now they were supporting her and that was the important part. Natsu ran beside her, his breathing labored and shallow. Whether this was the physical exertion or Kale, she didn’t know.

Lucy didn’t have time to dwell on the events that had transpired in the prison, but she couldn’t stop her thoughts from drifting. Levy had been right; Kale knew how to get under a person’s skin. Lucy had felt the full force of that in the worst way possible. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts so she could be of use now.

Jellal rounded a sharp corner, his cape billowing behind him. Lucy felt a tug on her elbow as Natsu steered her away from colliding with the wall. Maybe she wasn’t as balanced as she had originally thought.

Natsu.

Lucy had seen Natsu angry many, many times before, but this time had been different. Any trace of the friend she had had vanished the moment his fist struck the cell. She had found herself feeling… _scared._ Not scared of him, exactly, she knew that Natsu would never hurt her, and yet he’d struck fear in her. Natsu, the lovable idiot, had been genuinely intimidating; not in power, but in pure fury.

She glanced sideways at him. He had calmed considerably, but the ghosts of his anger remained, darkening his eyes and giving his steps a determined air.

As they got closer to the explosion, moving became a detestable chore. People were milling about wildly, crashing into each other and exchanging unnecessarily loud, heated words. Ahead of them Jellal pushed through the crowd, trying desperately to get to the source of the ruckus.

“You should leave,” He yelled to Levy, Gajeel, Lucy, and Natsu. “This is official Magic Council business, if you get caught up in it you may never get out.” They knew, Lucy thought, they knew all too well.

“We’re staying,” Levy insisted, increasing her pace. Lucy nodded slightly, focused on keeping herself running in a straight line. Jellal bit the inside of his cheek; something in Levy’s voice must have resounded within him, as he chose not to argue and instead increased his pace.

They turned one last corner and nearly collided with a wall of smoke. Jellal brought up solid, stumbling as the rest of the wizards crashed into him, creating an unfortunate domino effect. Lucy barely had time to register what was going on before she was thrown into the fray of smoke and voices.

The others began to cough, feeling their way through the swirling grey mass. Lucy tried to follow using what little vision she had left, but soon she couldn’t see anything at all, the cloud of ashy fog clogging the hall and swallowing her surroundings.

“Natsu?” She called, coughing. “Gajeel? Levy?”

“Over here!”

“This way!”

“Lucy?”

Three different voices came at her from different directions, disorienting her. She whirled, waving her arms wildly in an attempt to clear the air. Her wrist crashed into the wall, earning a shriek of pain from her.

“Are you ok?”

“What happened?”

“Lucy?”

She hadn’t heard the sound of bone cracking, so she was fairly certain she hadn’t broken anything. Still, she cradled her wrist, sputtering in her pain and annoyance. “I’m fine!” She coughed, waving her good hand in front of her face. “I just can’t see! Where is everyone?”

“By the door!”

“In the hall!”

“Lucy?!”

“Behind you.”

Lucy jumped at the unexpected fourth voice, small and gentle near her ear. She lunged forward, her body bouncing off the ground with an audible smack. Her wrist, and now her whole body, ached. Muttering, she used her elbow to push herself off the ground, her ear still tingling from the caress of breath that had been there just a moment before, and rolled to see the source of her fright.

A ghostly faced peered at her through the smoke.

Her stomach dropped. She screamed, instinctively, scrambling backwards as far as she could with her bum wrist. She was trying to remember something she’d read on how to repel a ghost- it took her only a moment to realise that, although the face was hollow, it was indeed human and she was being foolish.

Lucy squinted at the figure above her. Her hair was stringy and black, hanging in tangled tendrils beside her gaunt cheeks. Every bone in her face stood in sharp contrast, her pale, brittle skin stretched dangerously thin over her pointed features.

Lucy shuffled backwards further, her heart pumping painfully in her chest. The woman advanced on her momentarily, blinking her large, black eyes, before another explosion wracked the building.

Screams filled the halls, the panic doubled along with the chaos. People began to run blindly through the cloud of smoke, nearly trampling Lucy in the process. She threw herself towards the wall for safety, huddling her body against the cold, crumbling plaster. She’d lost sight of the woman; and somehow Lucy knew, without really knowing, that she was gone.

“Lucy!”

A small, light body fell on top of Lucy, tripping into the wall behind her. Levy tumbled free of the smoke barrier, coughing and struggling to right herself. Lucy attempted to help, guiding her into a seated position.

“Finally,” She choked, clearing her lungs of the oppressive air. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Lucy insisted, scanning the thinning smoke. “Where’s everyone else?”

“I lost them in the second explosion,” Levy mourned, scanning now as Lucy was. “Have you seen them?”

“No,” Lucy put a hand on the wall for support. The panicking people had mostly cleared now, and she could make out where she was. She pulled herself upright, Levy after her, and began to search the rubble for their friends.

The hall had been destroyed- plaster stripped from the walls, chunks of ceiling scattered over the floor, doorways collapsed, sunlight piercing the gaping holes in the walls around them. As the dust settled, the extent of the damage was awe worthy.

“Lucy!”

Natsu emerged from the debris, coughing and wiping soot from his clothes. Lucy felt relief flood her; he seemed annoyed, but unharmed. Waving him over, she struggled to free herself from the cluttered floor. He met them in the middle of the hall, clearing a space on the floor for them to stand.

“Gajeel!” Levy caught sight of the man, hunched over behind a piece of fallen ceiling. He shouldered it away from him, shaking his body free of shreds of building. He saw Levy before she reached him, sweeping her up in a relieved embrace.

“What the hell happened?” He demanded, looking to Natsu and Lucy for answers. They shrugged in unison; no one in their immediate vicinity seemed to know. Gajeel grit his teeth, irritation written clearly across his features.

“Where’s Jellal?” Natsu demanded suddenly, spinning in place. Lucy felt fear rise in her throat again, growing out of control, until a familiar voice met her ears from behind them.

“I’m fine,” Jellal announced, supporting an injured man on his shoulder. He was struggling under the weight of his patient, but other than that he did indeed look fine. The man looked to be a janitor of some kind, but his leg hung limply beneath him as Jellal carried him towards the group. “And I’d like to know what the hell happened myself.”

“Fernandez!”

Jellal turned as quickly as he could to see a commanding officer sprinting towards him. Lucy didn’t recognize him, but all the magic council men looked the same to her anyhow. This one wore the same uniform as Jellal, white on white on white with a dash of blue thrown in for good measure. Whoever he was, the man’s face made it clear this was not a happy visit.

“Sir!” Jellal greeted, indicating he would salute but his hands were otherwise occupied. The officer nodded, dismissing him. “As far as I can tell there’ve been no casualties. I haven’t done an extensive search though, sir. The blast appears to have been centralized here, but again I haven’t-”

The officer held up a gloved hand to silence him. Jellal’s mouth snapped shut obediently. The reaction rubbed Lucy the wrong way; she’d never been comfortable with the amount of control commanding officers had over their subordinates.

“The criminal, Fernandez,” The officer grunted, a bead of sweat inching down his red face. Lucy watched as his expression went from desperate, to angry, to grim in the span of three seconds. It was not a promising thing to watch. “The one you were visiting. His name?”

“Demionate, sir,” Jellal answered quickly, resisting the urge to prod. The look in his eyes told Lucy he had many questions that he was, difficultly, biting back. She looked from Jellal to the officer and back again. Neither man appeared comfortable.

“He’s gone, Fernandez.” The officer announced then, dread coloring his gruff voice. He threw his arm towards the crumbling walls around them, an all-encompassing, exasperated gesture. “The wall was blown out in the west and he made a run for it. He’s out, Fernandez,” He said gravely, “He’s free.”

There was a hauntingly loud thud as Levy’s shocked body crumpled to the floor.


	6. Chapter 6

“Natsu!”

He heard Lucy’s voice calling desperately to him through the chaos, but despite the irresistible pull it caused in his heart, he couldn’t turn back. Anger pulsed wildly through his veins, driving his limbs in irrational movements towards Kale’s now empty cell; the image of the barren confinement that used to house the bastard nearly destroyed him. He couldn’t turn back.

The slick, pompous features popped into his head, stirring his stomach into turmoil and giving him another fury-induced burst of adrenaline.

He wouldn’t escape, Natsu wouldn’t let him. The man drove him to impossibly high levels of hate, and with everything else going on around them Natsu’s frustrations had boiled over into this last ditch effort at capturing Kale before he got too far. He couldn’t escape. Natsu couldn’t _let_ him escape.

Lucy’s horrified face flashed across his mind.

Natsu growled quietly and increased his speed. He nearly forgot to keep his wits about him. He slowed to sniff the air; the trail was leading him to the cell where he knew Kale was not, but it was difficult to pick up anything else with the heavy scent of fear and panic plaguing the building. Still, Natsu pressed on instinct.

_Damn it,_ he mentally cursed. Navigating this building was impossible on the best of days; he’d only been there once or twice, but each time he found himself frustrated and confused. Blindly he turned a couple of corners, hopelessly lost in the maze of hallways and corridors, until he collided with a wall of unfamiliar smells that stopped him in his tracks.

He paused to sniff again; the smell assaulting his nostrils. It was odd… a mixture of cold, darkness, and danger. He’d never smelled anything like it in his life. Natsu reeled against the sensations attacking his nose; he placed his hand over his face, shielding it against the contaminated air.

Natsu looked around him wildly. The other people milling about seemed unbothered by the oppressive scent; he could only assume it was his dragon slayer senses that were hindering him. He peered around in suspicion, his eyes squinting against the intensity of the environment. An uncomfortable feeling of dread had settled in the pit of his gut.

Suddenly, the edges of his vision began to fade to black. _What the hell?_ He blinked violently, shaking his head to clear it. The blackness continued to creep into his field of view. A violent cold shiver ripped through his spine, chilling his skin and raising goose bumps on his arms and back. The temperature had dropped significantly and Natsu was freezing; he hated to admit it but he was starting to panic.

Wait. Natsu was _freezing_?

Natsu never gets cold. Cold was a foreign feeling to him. So then why now did he feel the need to track down a sweater? Natsu was shaking, his vision was going, and his nose was burning with this unfamiliar scent. On top of all that, he was angry.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Natsu mumbled, pressing forward against the confusion pressing in on him. He strained to pick up Kale’s scent through the fogged air. When he couldn’t grasp his bearings, his anger began to bubble again and he roared, lighting his fists against the cold. For the first time in recent memory, his flames sputtered on his skin, struggling to life. He blinked in surprise, but forced his focus to his inner fire. The flames licked up his arms, chasing away the cold and the unease.

_Thank God,_ he sighed.

Natsu’s vision began to clear with the crowd, the black edges receding to extinction. He shook his head, throwing off the discomfort of the atmosphere around him. He needed to get back on track- he didn’t know exactly when he’d stopped running, but he had, and he was losing precious time following after Kale.

His nose was in the air again, inhaling deeply to find any trace of the scent. It was difficult, now that he’d been disoriented, but Natsu was nothing if not determined. He spun in circles, testing the air, until he found what he was looking for: a faint trace of Kale’s scent leading in a direction away from the cells.

Bingo.

Natsu took off like a bullet, using his flames to propel him forward. His nose was poised and ready, the uneasy feeling almost completely forgotten. Kale was getting closer, Natsu could feel it. The proximity excited him, got his blood pumping, and his heart pounding; he wouldn’t get away. Natsu would catch him.

He was blindsided. Natsu’s body crashed into the wall to his right, his shoulder cracking painfully against the concrete. At the same time, his veins turned to ice, and his eyesight failed him entirely. Natsu fell to the floor, blind, cold, and broken.

_Shit!_

He tried to rise, to get up, but the ice in his blood had slowed his movements to the point of robotic. What was going on? Desperation rose in his throat; he fought- struggled- to regain his composure but was failing miserably. His vision was gone, though he blinked wildly against it.

“ _Leave him alone!”_

The hushed shriek came out of nowhere, piercing Natsu’s ears almost painfully. He couldn’t see what was happening, he couldn’t see who was speaking; hell, he didn’t even know where he _was._

“ _Did you hear me, boy_?” The voice came again, low and deadly in Natsu’s ear, breath tickling the sensitive skin there. Natsu stirred restlessly, every inch of his body on defense, “ _Leave Kale alone. He’s_ ours.”

“What?” Natsu gasped, his voice raspy and quiet. He reached out for the person next to him, trying to do something- he wasn’t exactly sure what- but was stopped by an unfamiliar pressure on the back of his neck. There was quick snap against the base of Natsu’s skull and then the world faded.

When he would wake, Natsu would make his way back to the group, beaten and embarrassed. He wouldn’t say anything to Lucy, he wouldn’t say anything to Jellal, he would keep his head down and say that he couldn’t find a trace of the criminal he’d tore after. The voice would be gone, his vision would be back, his temperature would be normal, and Kale’s scent would be long gone.

_._

_It was a lock; one of those old brass ones that made an ear-splitting sound as it tumbled sloppily over the equally aged key. The lock was in the shape of a lion, comically misshapen in its inexperienced craftsmanship._

_Lucy reached out towards the lock, somehow knowing that the door it guarded would fall open to her touch. Her vision was distorted, like she was looking at the world through a glass of water. Off balance, she grasped the lock in her hand like it was a door knob, pushing with all her might._

_The door, which, she now realised, was a dark oak, crumbled beneath her fingers. She fell forward, her surroundings moving in slow motion as her body collapsed to the floor. She strained to move her arms, to protect her face from smashing against… against… She realised she couldn’t tell what the floor was made out of._

_There was an awfully disorienting moment as the earth shifted, swirling across her vision in a whirl of blended colour. The images began to settle like fine grains of salt around her, revealing a desolate space of land. The ground beneath her feet sprouted piles of sand, spreading to create a vast desert._

_Lucy looked down at her body. She was clad in only a thin white cloth, tattered and fraying at the edges. She clutched the fabric to her body, her movements slow and sluggish. There was a sudden gust of wind, splaying Lucy’s hair about her in a fan._

_‘What is this place?’ She tried to say. Her lips wouldn’t open, like some unseen force was holding them shut. She managed a mumble, but the words were lost even to her._

_There was movement at her foot. She looked down, catching a glimpse of a desert snake ducking beneath the layer of sand. Lucy tried to jump, tried to back away, but found she couldn’t move. Suddenly the sky turned black- she couldn’t recall what colour it was before- and the wind picked up in wild gusts._

_Lucy flailed. A pressure on her wrists prevented her from tearing away towards something- anything- she looked and saw a black, slender snake coiling around her arm. Its red eyes blinked at her in the darkness._

_She wrenched her arm away, only to be stopped by another snake gripping her leg. All at once there were snakes everywhere; the ground turned to a slithering mass beneath her, her arms were restrained by the cold bodies. They were in her hair, around her neck, her ankles, her knees, and her middle. She opened her mouth to scream but found it impossible- she was silenced by the sheer number of vile creatures._

_A snake, different from the rest, began to inch up her leg, its triangular head pointed towards her inner thigh. Her eyes widened and she began to thrash frantically, pulling and straining against her cold-blooded prison. The snake flicked its tongue, darting across her skin with a fleeting burn._

_She needed to get away-_

_“What do you think-”_

_She needed to run-_

_“You screech and beg for him to stop-”_

_She had to-_

_“-you’re worth?”_

_\- to SCREAM._

Lucy wrenched herself from the nightmare with a violent shriek that rattled her very bones. Her throat was dry and her voice hurt as it erupted from her chest, releasing her from the confines of her mind. _A dream_ , she thought, _it was just a dream_.

Sweat beaded at her forehead, coating her body in a slick layer. It secured her t-shirt to her skin uncomfortably, bringing a wave of flustered heat with it. She pulled at the damp fabric, peeling it away from her to promote a breeze. The temperature in the room must’ve shot up fifty degrees.

Lucy struggled to calm her beating heart. Her breath was coming in short bursts, her chest heaving with the effort of providing air to her lungs. She hadn’t had much experience with nightmares; they weren’t something that plagued her regularly. It was only on occasion that she suffered them, and they usually were fairly tame.

This one hadn’t been.

With the events of the day, Lucy hadn’t really had time to let it all sink in. After the explosions, Levy was carted to the hospital, along with many other injured, to recover from her shock-induced fainting spell. Gajeel was with her now, ensuring her safety. Lucy had thought it was cute. After they’d found and calmed Natsu, he and Lucy set to assisting Jellal with general clean up; a search party of experienced individuals was set up to go after Kale, and Natsu had fought to be a part of it, but Jellal had shot him down. It was Council business- if they needed his help, they’d ask.

Natsu hadn’t been ok with that, she could tell from the deathly quiet he adopted for the rest of the day. It was the most perturbed she’d ever seen him and it was scary as hell. Natsu didn’t act like this, he just didn’t. If he’d been his normal self, he’d have flown off to catch Kale in an instant, but now…

Lucy furrowed her brow. A thought had just occurred to her: why hadn’t Natsu run off after Kale? Why had he listened to Jellal and held off? It wasn’t like Natsu to take orders when his passions were running wild. There had been so much confusion during the day that Lucy didn’t notice the strangeness of Natsu’s behaviour, but now she began to wonder if he didn’t have secondary reasons for staying behind.

A board creaked across the hall, making her jump. She knew, logically, that she was perfectly safe in the quarters Jellal had set up for them, but she found herself plagued with a nagging sense of unease that had shown up when she’d closed the door to her room and encompassed herself in loneliness. The feeling hadn’t left her even as she drifted off to sleep.

“Lucy?”

She whirled, her heart stopping entirely at the intrusion. As her nerves settled and she was able to collect herself, Lucy saw a sleep-mussed Natsu standing in her doorway. He was shirtless, his loose pants hanging at his hips like he’d thrown them on in a hurry. His hair was stuck up at odd angles, leaving her with the impression that he’d been dead asleep just moments before.

Guilt tugged at her.

“Natsu…?” Her voice crackled painfully. She cleared her throat, attempting to get her voice back. “What are you doing here?” Better, but it still sounded strained. She longed for a drink of water.

“I heard a scream,” Natsu yawned, relaxing now that he could see Lucy was in no immediate physical danger. Still, he didn’t loosen his grip on the doorframe. “What’s wrong?”

Lucy pressed her lips together. She could feel her face flushing in embarrassment- she had been hoping no one heard her outburst. She should’ve known Natsu would, no matter how deeply he’d been sleeping. She could see Natsu waiting for her to answer; the man was so stubborn that a lie wouldn’t do her any good.

“I just had a bad dream,” She admitted, twisting the crisp linen between her fingers. “That’s all,”

“A bad dream?” Natsu repeated, worry forming a crease in his brow. “What was it about?”

A pair of striking blue eyes flashed across Lucy’s mind, sending her into a fit of shivers.

Natsu stepped toward her, reaching his hand out instinctively. What had he said? What made her shake like this? He opened his mouth, but Lucy beat him to it.

“I’m sorry,” She released a small, pained chuckle. “I don’t know what’s come over me. I’m acting ridiculous,” She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts and sober herself. Natsu was in here checking on her, and she was a mess. She needed to pull herself together- what was even wrong? Again she thought of Kale, her stomach twisting.

Lucy forced herself to look up at Natsu and smile. She would be ok; it’s not like anything actually happened to her. She was simply stressed out from a rough couple of days, and she would be fine when she got some sleep. She tried to say all of this with her smile, but got the sense that she had failed miserably.

She had.

Natsu met her eyes, saw the emotion there, and understanding dawned in his own.

Lucy’s cheeks flushed. She was embarrassed- embarrassed because her worries were the least of their concerns. She wanted to throw all of her efforts into stopping the twins, finding Kale, and putting this whole matter to rest, but hesitation secured around her waist like a rope, pulling her back from her goals.

Lucy was afraid.

She was afraid of Kale- terrified of him. His words had pierced her through, sinking into her brain and heart like hooked barbs. He hadn’t touched her, he hadn’t been anywhere near her, and yet his presence loomed over her like a cloud. She hated it.

Levy had had a much worse experience with Kale- one that lasted a lifetime. So many families had been affected by him, terrorized by him, and she was tossing and turning over a few explicit insults? It was selfish of her.

And then she was being pulled.

Natsu’s arms shot around her, pressing her flush against him. He cradled her in the protection of his embrace, tucking her head into the crook of his neck. Lucy blinked in surprise as she felt something warm and wet fall from her cheek to Natsu’s bare skin. She was crying?

Lucy leaned against him, stunned, letting her tears trickle down her face. She hated herself; hated that she needed this. It was unfair of her. She fought the comfort for as long as she could, wanting to be strong, wanting to deny her fragility in the face of a man who was a much greater enemy to others than he was to her. She fought until the warmth from Natsu’s body sunk into her core and she fell, giving into the weight pressing heavily on her shoulders.

“Don’t apologize,” Natsu insisted, his chest vibrating against her ear. Lucy felt her heart constrict, both in surprise and in pain. “It’s ok.”

Lucy felt Natsu tighten his grip on her, as though he were trying to force her broken pieces back together. She let her eyelids flutter closed, listening to the steady beat of Natsu’s heart.

“I shouldn’t be upset,” She whispered, continuing her inner monologue for Natsu to hear. “He spoke to me, that’s all. Levy-” She took a shaking breath, “Levy had to go through so much, so many people had to go through so much. Fernhold, they lost their _sight_ - _”_

“Lucy, stop it,” Natsu’s voice was firm and low, causing Lucy’s mouth to snap shut. “Kale is a bad guy; bad guys are bad guys no matter how you look at it. Just because he did something to someone, doesn’t make what he did to someone else any better or worse.”

Lucy bit her lip. “But-”

“No,” Natsu placed his hand on the back of her head, tilting it back so she could meet his gaze. His long fingers tangled gently in the blonde strands, securing her in place. “Kale did a lot of terrible things; he’s an asshole, and he’s going to be stopped. He hurt Levy, he hurt Fernhold, he hurt a lot of people in Fiore, and he hurt you. Lucy I know you, you’re not only feeling your own hurt; you’re feeling the hurt of all the others that came before you, it’s who you are. And you’re going to take that hurt and use it to stop him. You’re going to stop him, Lucy, _we_ are going to stop him.”

Natsu’s mouth pulled up in a comforting grin. It was softer than his normal smile, but brought with it the same energy that he threw into all of his gestures. Lucy blinked at him, the tears finally clearing from her vision, and broke into a thin smile of her own.

She leaned forward, throwing her arms around Natsu’s neck, hugging him tightly. Natsu wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into his lap. This is why he’d stayed, Lucy realised with a pang of warmth in her heart, he’d stayed for her. Somehow, Natsu had known. She didn’t’ know how he knew, and she didn’t know how she knew he knew, but he did.

Lucy turned her head into his neck, planting a gentle, grateful kiss on his cheek. Natsu flushed beneath her lips, but it was too dark for her to see. Instead, she smiled against his skin, revelling in the warmth of her fiery dragon.

“Stay with me,” She whispered, nodding to the double bed beneath her. “It’s weird, sleeping by myself. I miss you,” Lucy’s confession was genuine. She would be far more comfortable with Natsu beside her, there to combat the loneliness she felt in the dark.

Natsu nodded stiffly, freeing Lucy from his grasp so that she may settle into the suddenly welcoming sheets. She adjusted herself, holding the blankets open so that Natsu may join her. He hesitated for only a moment, too short for her to notice, before sinking into the mattress beside her.

“Thank you,” Lucy whispered, inching forward so that she was huddled against Natsu’s chest, her little hands pressed against his burning skin. Natsu murmured a dismissive response, draping his arm gently over the curve of her waist. Lucy sighed in content, immediately beginning to drift off into slumber.

One last thought popped into her brain before a thick rush of sleep overtook her; it almost woke her enough to speak, but she was too far gone. The image would stay in her mind throughout the night, nagging her until morning when she could confess to Natsu:

She hadn’t mentioned the face in the smoke.

It was alright; he hadn’t mentioned the voice either.


	7. Chapter 7

“Hey metal-head, you’re looking grumpier than usual today!”

Natsu’s cheerful voice pierced the solemn calm of Levy’s hospital room, earning the quickest, and dirtiest, scowl Lucy had ever seen Gajeel muster. It had clearly been a long night for him, if one were to judge by the heavy bags under his slanted eyes.

“How are you, Levy?” Lucy asked, folding her hands slowly in front of her. Levy looked like she’d gotten less sleep than Gajeel; her skin was deathly pale, hair falling limp at the sides of her face, her eyes darkened, and her delicate hands shaking in her lap. Lucy bit her lip in discomfort.

“I’ve… been better,” Levy admitted carefully, even her voice sounding hollow and breakable. “Jellal came and told me everything he knew. Is there still… no sign of him?”

Lucy shook her head quickly, almost hoping it would be too quick for Levy to see; anything to hide the poor reality of the situation from her.

“Well what the damn hell is taking them so long?” Gajeel demanded suddenly, slamming a clenched fist on the table by Levy’s bed. Levy flinched, unnoticed by Gajeel, as he continued to express his displeasure. “This is the magic capital of Fiore, finding this asshole should be just another Tuesday for them!”

“They’re doing all they can, I’m sure…” Lucy spoke softly, unsure of her words even as she spoke them. She didn’t doubt the Council was doing all they could to track down Kale, she just wasn’t positive it would be enough.

“Well they need to do more!”

“Gajeel,”

Levy’s voice broke the thicket of anger surrounding the iron dragon slayer. He inhaled sharply through his nose, slowly unfurling his fists to the rhythm of his breath. Lucy glanced at Natsu; he was watching with an unusually optimistic glint in his eye that roused her suspicion.

He’d told her about it just after they woke in the morning; at first, all she could pick out was something about a voice in the smoke. In reality, there wasn’t much more to it than that, but after she deciphered Natsu’s excited gibberish, the information presented itself as a bit more useful. They discussed it, and in exchange for his honesty, she had told him about the face she’d seen during the explosion. Ever since, he’d sported this optimistic glint that made her both uneasy and hopeful.

“You’re right,” Natsu announced suddenly, making the three other mages in the room jump. A vein pulsed in Gajeel’s forehead. “They need to do more, but they can’t!”

“That’s bull-” Natsu held up a hand to Gajeel’s interruption, increasing the tempo of the pulsing vein.

“We, on the other hand, _can_.”

.

“So let me get this straight,”

Lucy, Natsu, Gajeel, and Levy (against Gajeel’s advisory), marched down the hallway of the Council building. They were clearly heading towards the site of the attacks, but no one other than Natsu quite knew why. Lucy had her ideas, as she’d discussed them with Natsu before venturing to meet Levy in the hospital, but the details of the plan were still fuzzy.

“You think,” Levy held out her fingers in front of her, using them to keep track of her points, “That the people who freed Kale are these twins he was talking about, Epense and Umbara, that one of them set off the explosion in the hall as a distraction while the other set off the second explosion for his escape, that now all three of them are on the loose, and that it has something to do with the book they probably stole from the Madison house?”

Natsu nodded proudly, puffing his chest as they walked.

“Ok,” Levy’s nose crinkled in confusion. “But Kale said that they hated him, and wanted to kill him. Why would they go through the trouble of setting him free?”

Lucy thought for a moment.

“That’s _exactly_ why they set him free,” She announced decidedly. “So they can kill him. It’s not like the Council would let them near him. They had to get him out first.” Lucy blinked in surprise at the realisation. “That was… really good thinking Natsu.” He beamed.

“But we still have the same problem we did before,” Levy pointed out, stepping quickly to keep up with Gajeel’s long paces. “We don’t know where the twins are, and now we don’t know where Kale is either.” Her voice shook on Kale’s name, reminding everyone of the severity of the situation they faced.

“We just need to think of things the way he would.” Lucy paused, tapping her finger lightly against her nose. “He knows the twins want to kill him, so where would he go? Would he run from them, or would he face them?”

“He wouldn’t run,” Levy whispered, “He’s too cocky. He’d want to face them. Where, I’m not sure, but if you let me think on it I may be able to come up with something.”

“Thanks, Levy, you’ve been a fantastic help.” Lucy smiled in appreciation at her friend. “However, that still leaves one thing. Why are we going back to the cells, Natsu?”

Natsu straightened his back in preparation for what he thought was going to be an impressive answer. “That’s easy. The last time we were here, I was smelling for Kale. Now that I have his scent on lock, I need to get a sniff of the twins so I can look for them both at the same time!”

“But you said people were meeting us here?” Lucy pointed out, glaring at Natsu’s knowing look. “Who on earth could be-?”

“LUUUUUUUUCY!”

She had a split second to brace herself before she was sent to the ground, tumbling over her own feet. Her back hit the floor as a light blue ball of fluff hit her chest, nearly winding her.

“Happy!”

The exceed peered up at her through watering eyes, his paws clutching Lucy’s top so tightly it pulled away from her chest. Lucy panicked and adjusted her shirt so that her cleavage wasn’t completely on display. “Lucy…” Happy groaned, sniffling. “We were so worried!”

“Worried about what- wait, we?” Lucy cocked an eyebrow.

“You didn’t think I’d let him come alone, did you?”

The group glanced up at a small black cat standing proudly ahead of them in the hallway.

“Lily!” Gajeel exclaimed; the only times Lucy ever saw Gajeel excited were when there was a battle to be had, or Lily and/or Levy were around. It was rather cute.

“We heard about the explosion!” Happy whined, tears soaking Lucy’s shirt, “We came as fast as we could!”

“Gramps sent a message to our room this morning while you were sleeping, Luce.” Natsu grinned, “You didn’t hear the knock over your snoring!”

Lucy’s cheeks flushed a deep red as all eyes turned to her, unaware that Natsu and Lucy had shared a room the previous night. She ignored the suggestive look Levy gave her, instead pushing Lily for more information.

“How did you hear about the explosion so fast?” Lucy asked, her voice wavering in embarrassment. “It only happened yesterday.”

“Jellal sent a message to the Master as soon as he could,” Lily explained in his low rumble. “Makarov thought it would be best if we joined you; it would help your tracking to have some eyes in the sky.”

“Did you catch anything on your way here?” Gajeel asked eagerly, his grip on Levy’s shoulder was tight.

“Nothing too note-worthy,” Lily admitted sadly. “But we did see a bit of commotion at the outskirts of town. There were too many trees to do a proper assessment, but it looked like some travelling merchants were having issues crossing the border. It was probably nothing, but I thought I should mention it.”

“That’s excellent Lily, thank you.” Levy smiled. Happy was still sobbing, clinging to Lucy’s shirt like his life depended on it. “We should let Jellal know we’re leaving and then start for the border. Kale wouldn’t stay in town, not when it’s so heavily guarded.”

“Good idea,” Lucy agreed, pulling Happy up with her. He sniffled once more before jumping to Natsu instead, repeating the routine. “I’ll hang back and find him while you guys go to the prison. It wouldn’t hurt for Gajeel to pick up the twins’ scent too.”

The group nodded in understanding, leaving Lucy to wander the maze-like halls of the Council building alone. She was happy to be by herself for the moment, contemplating their next move with streams of uninterrupted thought. Natsu had truly comforted her last night, as he often did, and now she was able to think clearly. With the combined tracking abilities of Natsu, Gajeel, Lily, and Happy, it was only a matter of time before they found Kale and the twins.

Lucy stopped in her tracks. But what would they do once they found them? Surely Kale would have to go back to jail, as would the twins if they were truly trying to kill him, but they knew nothing about the sisters, nothing at all. What kind of magic did they possess? Were they dangerous? Misguided? What? Lucy didn’t know.

If only she could’ve continued to question Kale. Maybe she would’ve been able to extract more information. His hushed words floated through her mind again, sending a shiver through her spine. No, that wasn’t her fault. She would’ve gotten no more out of him.

“Lucy?”

She looked up, only just realising she’d been stationary for several minutes. Jellal, just the man she wanted to see, stood a few feet ahead of her, looking mildly concerned. Lucy laughed nervously, attempting to lighten the situation.

“Hey,” She greeted, making note of the bags under his eyes and the exhausted way he held himself, “I was just looking for you.”

“How strange,” Jellal shifted his weight from side to side. Lucy guessed he was trying to keep himself conscious. It looked as though he’d been out all night searching for Kale, yielding no results. “I was just looking for you too. I found something that might be of interest:”

He pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his jacket pocket, handing it delicately to Lucy.

“Be careful,” He advised. “It’s quite old and tears easily. I got it from the archives.”

Lucy examined the paper only briefly before gently placing it in her bag. She would look at it on the way to the border. “Thank you, I’ll have to read it later. Right now, I have something else to do. That’s actually why I was looking for you.”

Jellal tiled his head to the side in curiosity.

“We’re actually heading out today,” She explained, conveniently leaving out where they intended to go, though she suspected Jellal may already know. “We just wanted to let you know, and to thank you for everything you’ve done for us. It’s been a big help.”

Jellal blinked momentarily, but otherwise looked unfazed. She had been right, he already knew.

“Well,” He said eventually, rocking back on his heels. “If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to ask. As long as I’m here, you’re always welcome.”

Lucy smiled. Jellal had always struck her as strict and formal, but he never failed to offer a helping hand. She turned to catch up to the others who were no doubt at the gates by now, when Jellal suddenly cleared his throat.

“Before you go,” He began, hesitation coloring his voice, “I just wanted to… well, I wanted to say-”

He stopped, the faintest of blushes painting his cheeks. Lucy resisted the urge to giggle.

“Listen,” He sighed. “Just- just be careful, ok? Kale is a dangerous man, and I’d hate to think of any of you getting hurt.” He paused to lock eyes with Lucy and for the first time she could see the intense worry buried there. “You guys and Erza are the only people I care about now; I need to know you’ll be ok.”

Lucy was struck silent for a few moments, blinking at the unexpected request. Jellal was such a hard person to read, perhaps it was the tattoo that covered half of his face, but Lucy could never tell what exactly he was thinking. That he cared so much about them was a surprise, but not an unpleasant one. Lucy’s face broke into a smile, and before she knew what she was doing she reached out and hugged him.

He stiffened beneath her touch, not quite sure what to make of this development. Lucy let go of him quickly, to save him from the decision of whether or not to hug her back, and saluted him.

“I’ll tell Erza she should visit you more often,” Lucy winked, earning another blush from Jellal. “You look good in uniform, I’m sure she wouldn’t want to miss out on it.”

With that, Lucy turned and dashed down the hall, heading for (what she hoped) was the main entrance to the Council building.

.

“Like I said, it was probably nothing.”

Pantherlily floated ahead of the group, directing them away from the travellers who’d had trouble at the border. They were about an hour outside of central now, with no leads. Natsu hadn’t picked up Kale’s, or the twins’ scent and neither had Gajeel. It was disheartening, to say the least.

“Maybe we should stop into the next town,” Levy suggested, panting ever so slightly. Gajeel donned an unimpressed scowl, not attempting to hide the fact that he disapproved of this much activity the day Levy was released from hospital. They’d passed through several small towns, none of which yielding results. “If we haven’t found a trail by now, then they probably took a back road.”

“Natsu?” Lucy reached out and touched his shoulder, startling him out of his intense tracking stare. He blinked, but nodded, glancing ahead of them.

“Yeah, that’s fine. I think there’s another town up ahead. Everything’s so clustered here,” He groaned, rubbing his nose. “There are way too many scents. I need to give my nose a break.”

And that was how they ended up in a little town called Gorgedon. Someone had told them at the gates that there was a road leading through a forest behind the little village, so they’d decided that was a good first stop to make.

“I think the back road is this way…” Natsu muttered, sniffing the air. “It smells clearer over there.”

“I smell it too,” Gajeel nodded, stepping into place beside Natsu. “Smells like trees and water.”

They walked on in silence, passing carts of food and other essentials that they stocked up on, weaving between stone houses and people, and following the poorly scribbled road signs. Somehow, Lucy noticed, the group had taken to following Natsu like he was a hunting hound, trailing after him almost blindly.

Suddenly, Natsu stopped, startling all of them. He gestured towards a wooden arch, giving way to an almost solid wall of trees. He approached it slowly, a confused look set in his eyes.

“This is the trail?” Gajeel snorted, crossing his arms. “This isn’t a road through a forest, this _is_ a forest.”

He was almost right. Lucy approached behind Natsu, scanning the ground for signs of passage through the thicket. There was a thin line of packed dirt to the left of the center of the arch, winding a complicated path through the trees. “Here, it looks like the road is here.”

The group paused to survey the area, contemplating if the trip through the tangled trees was worth the effort for possibly no results. Lucy squinted at the underbrush, catching a few broken branches scattered amongst the grass.

“Someone’s been through here,” She exclaimed, taking a step into the trees without waiting to see if the others would follow her. The collective groan behind her told her that they had, and thus the trek began.

The throng of unpolished branches clawed at her, tugging on her clothes and almost breaking skin. Lucy pushed on, keeping her eyes downcast on the trail beneath her feet. It wasn’t even a foot in width, but she could follow it with minimal trouble.

After a much shorter struggle than Lucy had anticipated, much to her relief, she emerged in a small clearing, bearing only a scattered tree. It was shaded, and secluded, but the path continued on the other side, descending into a much more open trail than what stood behind her. She smiled, turning to wait for the others to join her.

Happy and Lily were the first to escape, their small bodies easily passing through the thicket. Natsu was next, followed by Levy, and then a disgruntled Gajeel, until everyone stood assessing the environment with curiosity. Lucy was about to point out the discovery she’d made about the path, but was interrupted before she could even open her mouth.

“Maybe we should relax a bit before continuing,” Happy groaned, sinking to the ground. “I’m tired. We’ve been walking forever.”

“It’s only been- oh, never mind.” Lucy quickly dismissed the instinct to push forward, instead resigning as Natsu joined Happy on the ground, soon followed by Gajeel and Levy. She was wordlessly outvoted.

It was unusually warm amongst the trees, prompting Natsu to remove his vest. Lucy resisted the urge to make a Gray comparison. The sun couldn’t quite reach them through the leaves, and yet Lucy was sweating. She almost wanted to take a nap.

It wouldn’t be difficult; the atmosphere around them was calm and quiet, not even birds chirping to disrupt the silence. Some part of her mind twitched, knowing this detail was odd, but she simply didn’t have the energy to care. Suddenly she was hot, exhausted, and sweating. What had happened?

“Did the temperature just surge or something?” Levy complained, lifting her hair from the back of her neck. “It feels like it’s forty degrees out.”

“It’s so strange…” Lily agreed, his little pink tongue darting out of his mouth in quick pants. “The sun can’t even reach us in here-”

Without warning, Gajeel and Natsu stood, startling everyone. Their muscles were tensed, their eyes narrowed, their chests rising slowly and methodically. Lucy recognized that stance; they were on the defensive. Almost as if they…

They were preparing for a fight.

“What is it?” Lucy whispered, trying not to speak so loudly as to break their concentration.

“I’m not sure…” Natsu replied, eyes focused on the trees around them. “It smells like…”

“It smells like the twins,” Gajeel growled, the hair on his arms rising angrily. Lucy tensed, jumping to her feet, whipping her head around in a frantic circle.

“Where?” Levy demanded, her voice quiet in the air. Gajeel and Natsu didn’t answer right away, listening and waiting.

“I can’t pinpoint it…” Natsu answered eventually, frustrated and bristled. “It’s like it’s… everywhere. But not… I don’t know how to explain it.” His words faded as something caught his attention. Lucy followed his gaze, gasping as she zeroed in on the trees opposite them.

A thick, black smoke was inching its way towards them through the clearing.

“W-what is that?” Happy asked, eyes wide with wonder and slight fear. “Is something on fire?”

“I don’t smell anything burning…” Lucy could tell there was something off about the smoke, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. It seemed to grip the trees it passed through, circling around them lazily like a hypnotic serpent.

“We should get away from it,” Gajeel huffed. Levy stood to be next to him, her arm held against her chest protectively. “I don’t like the smell. It’s unnatural…”

Natsu turned to break a wider path through to trail, only to find that it too was clouded with smoke. He cursed under his breath, backing up to form a tight circle with the rest of the group. Levy prepared her magic, scribbling in the air before her.

“Script magic!” She sang, “Wind!”

A small tornado formed in front of her, shooting a path straight through the strange fog. At the same time, the blackness barrelled towards them, leaving only a small window for them to huddle in the protection of the clearing the tornado made. Lucy felt a tug on her arm and suddenly she was huddled against Levy’s back, her shoulder pressed against Gajeel’s, and Natsu hovering behind her. She ducked her head, squeezing her eyes shut against the aggressive wind.

They heard a scream.

Levy’s tornado evaporated, leaving the clearing free of any smoke. Lucy cracked open an eye, taking note of everyone’s state. They seemed to be ok, Lily clinging to Gajeel’s leg and Happy-

Happy!

The little blue cat had not made it into the protected circle, left to be assaulted by the mysterious gas. The scream they’d heard had been his, erupting from his body in a flurry of terror.

Natsu dropped to the ground, reaching out to Happy in panic.

“Happy! What’s wrong? What happened?”

Happy was trembling, clutching his face in fear. He blinked, looking at the ground as though he weren’t really seeing it.

“Happy!”

Suddenly, they heard a chuckle from somewhere to their right. The voice was high pitched and brittle, like the voice that produced it was suffering from lack of use. Lucy’s head shot to the trees, shocked when she saw someone standing there instead of the wall of greenery she’d expected.

The woman before her was thin, bones straining against her skin like they would break through. Her stance was strong, in contrast to her apparent fragility. She was wearing a white dress, or at least it was supposed to be white. It was dingy and stained with dirt, torn and frayed on all edges. Her chin was pointed, her cheeks hollow, and her thin lips were stretched in a horrific grin. But the most striking thing about her was her eyes; they were blank and as white as the thin wisps of hair that clung to her skull.

“ _This little kitten has lost his sight,_ ” She sang with a piercing giggle. “ _He fell victim to the vision of the night!”_

Gajeel, Natsu, Levy, and Lily whirled to face the woman, shock and anger written in their expressions. Happy whimpered next to them, still blinking rapidly.

“What do you mean he lost his sight?” Natsu demanded, his voice low and raw.

“Natsu…” Happy whispered, as though he was confirming what the woman had just said. “I can’t see anything! I can’t see!”

The woman laughed again, her trilling cackle assaulting Lucy’s eardrums. “Umbara, you’re getting rusty. You only got the cat.”

Another woman stepped from the thicket. Lucy’s heart nearly stopped; she truly hadn’t seen someone there before. The second woman, Umbara, was an exact replica of the first, the only difference being the stringy black hair that hung to her shoulders and the black torn dress she wore. Seeing them standing next to each other, one smiling and one sullen, Lucy knew who they were. Worse, she recognized the second woman’s face. It was the one she’d seen in the smoke once before.

Levy grabbed Lucy’s arm, her mouth set in a thin line. The look on her face confirmed Lucy’s suspicions.

“ _La Lumiére de la Nuit.”_


	8. Chapter 8

Excerpt from ‘Fiore’s Formalities: Unexplained Oddities of the Western Border; Magical Entities Edition’ Volume 3:

_“Entry Twenty-Three: Epense and Umbara Dolores_

_Born in the year XXX, to Synthia Dolores and an unknown male, Epense and her older-by-hours sister Umbara were brought into the world under miserable circumstances. Synthia’s labour lasted a painful eighteen hours, ending in her untimely death. Umbara was birthed in the sixth hour, at midnight, but it would be another twelve hours before Epense emerged. Synthia passed away from the intense process just before Epense was born, the baby having to be forcibly removed from her uterus._

_The twins were born with thin, pale skin, and white eyes. The townspeople made the assumption that they were demons that had unwittingly caused the death of their mother, and would surely bring misfortunes to their village. The twins were abandoned to die in a nearby wood; the entrance to the forest was then sealed off and labelled as haunted and deadly to any visitors._

_Although it was assumed the newborn twins had perished in the wild, this was later learned to be untrue. The children, impossibly, learned magic from the elements to help them survive on their own. Epense, born at high noon, harnessed the life-giving power of the sun and learned to manipulate it at will. Umbara, born in the dead of night, followed the path of the moon, likewise learning to control the unusual power._

_It is unknown how they were able to do this at only the newborn stage._

_For four years the twins lived in the forest, claiming it as their home. They were found by a man named Kale Demionate (See Fiore’s Formalities: Unexplained Oddities of the Western Border; Magic Entities Edition, Volume 2; Entry Fifty-Seven). Kale took the twins and trained them to use their unusual magic for fighting; he molded them into a fighting duo with the tag ‘La Lumiére de la Nuit’, meaning ‘The Light of the Night’, and enrolled them in his underground battle ring where they fought against other children with unusual powers._

_It is unclear exactly how long the twins remained with Kale._

_After some time, the twins (now women) rebelled against Kale. They decimated his ranks and sent him into hiding, where he would remain for twenty years._

_The exact age of Kale is not known, though it is estimated he was born sometime thirty to forty years before the twins._

_Soon after the rebellion against Kale, the twins faded into hiding as well, completely falling off the map for almost a hundred years. With only hints and tips to their whereabouts, they’ve eluded exposure for nearly a century._

_Without a solid explanation for the strange circumstances, Epense and Umbara remain an unaltered entry in Oddities of the Western Border._

_-J. Allamac, September 17 th, year XXX_

_…_

Excerpt from ‘Folk songs and Nursery Rhymes of Fiore: Western Border, First Edition’ Volume 2:

_When darkness creeps into your sight,_

_Your vision robbed of all its light,_

_Legend speaks of mortal girls,_

_One of dull and darkened curls,_

_One of flooded holy light,_

_Stolen futures tall and bright,_

_Do not trust all that you see,_

_Know La Lumiére de la Nuit._

_A child’s tears brings a smile,_

_Lured by deceitful boyish wiles,_

_Know the whip, the curdled screams,_

_Fight to keep from hopeful dreams,_

_A seed of rage is planted there,_

_To grow in gritted silence fair,_

_Tormented heart holds the key,_

_To La Lumiére de la Nuit._

_Hate in hiding furious fuel,_

_To overthrow a tyrant’s rule._

_Into the darkness shadows slip,_

_Sun falling to Night’s cold nip._

_There they lie in wait of time,_

_For when the bell will loudly chime._

_Announcing a new era to set free,_

_Of La Lumiére de la Nuit._

_So when parents tuck their children in,_

_And promises the sun to return again,_

_Lies their vicious tongues will speak,_

_Into their hearts the black will sneak,_

_Murder and mayhem doomed to rise,_

_Horror blinds the experienced eyes,_

_Turn your back, pray to be free,_

_Fear La Lumiére de la Nuit._

_-Children’s Rhyme, Unknown Author, Unknown Origin._

_…_

_Personal note: The preceding sections have been gathered, by me, after extensive research in the archives of Fiore’s central library. Although there is no written evidence, I believe the twins from the records are the ‘Lumiére de la Nuit’ referenced in the song. There is no mention of the life lengthening magic I believe has been used here. I will keep looking._

_-Henry T. Madison, year XXX_

_…_

_Lucy, I found this in an unfinished paper that the Council had an exclusive copy of. It may help you. The paper was a research project conducted by Madison entitled “The Fountain of Youth: Magic in Life”. He passed before he could complete it._

_Best of luck, Jellal_

.

“YOU BLINDED HAPPY!”

A fresh jet of flame joined the others scattered about the clearing as Natsu directed another shot at the twins. This wasn’t the first fire, and the woods around them had burst into flames, clogging the air with thick, billowing smoke.

Lucy clutched the whimpering little cat to her chest, trying to calm him as his heart raced and panic clouded his judgement. She and Levy were side by side, their shoulders turned slightly away from Epense and Umbara to protect the vulnerable Happy as Natsu and Gajeel lashed out at the women.

Epense giggled, her shrill voice rising with the flames. The anger in Natsu’s eyes was paralyzing, enough to terrify any normal opponent. But these were not normal opponents.

“ROAR OF THE-”

“Roar of the-”

Epense rolled her eyes, shrugging a shoulder towards Umbara. The darker twin didn’t move outside of a quick blink, which Lucy assumed to be an answer of some kind.

“-FIRE DRAGON!”

“-Iron Dragon!”

The twins dodged, their movements agile and fast. Lucy almost missed their jump as they faded to blurs against the backdrop of smoke. Natsu roared in anger, a spout of flame erupting from his lips. Lucy watched, her heart aching; she hated seeing Natsu like this.

She didn’t get to see him for long, though, because he was suddenly moving, darting after the twins as they evaded him and Gajeel both. Angered groans and amused giggles filled the clearing as Lucy and Levy stood back to back, Pantherlily now guarding them in full size battle form.

Flame and Iron flashed in all directions, confusing Lucy with the fast-paced fight. She tried to follow them, to make sure neither Gajeel nor Natsu were getting hurt, but she couldn’t pinpoint either of them for long. Suddenly Gajeel crashed to the ground in front of her, followed by Natsu; both crouched like tigers ready to pounce.

Or dragons going in for the kill.

The two dragon slayers stayed that way for a long time, listening and catching their breath, scanning the wall of flames for signs of the twins.

“Jeez Salamander,” Gajeel huffed, eying Natsu in annoyance. “You could’ve gone easy on the arson. I can’t see a damn thing.”

Natsu’s glare was deadly, followed by silence from Gajeel. He inhaled deeply, gathering his breath, and roared.

Red-hot flames sputtered from his mouth, drenching what little green forest was left around them. Gajeel flinched from the heat, Lucy and Levy squinted against the light.

“It’s getting a bit warm in here, Umbara,” A voice caught Lucy off guard to the right. When she looked, Epense was standing there, just shrouded in a shadow. Where had that shadow come from?

Epense shot a girlish grin at the group of wizards, not a single bead of sweat hinting at fatigue. “Let’s cool them off a bit.”

Umbara, who emerged beside Epense from the same shadow, turned to face Natsu, her eyes widening for a fraction of a second, and then suddenly Natsu was choking. The towers of flame around him disintegrated immediately, leaving charred, black, twisted branches in their place. One by one, each tree faded to black, leaving only smoke and ash. Natsu coughed, slamming his hand against his chest angrily until he regained his breath, only wisps of smoke trailing from the corners of his mouth.

If Lucy had blinked, she would’ve missed it.

“What’d you do?” He demanded furiously, whirling on Umbara as though he intended to rip her throat out. She stared back at him unblinking, glancing only briefly to her sister.

“She cooled you down,” Epense sang, looking like she wanted to twirl about in circles. “Umbara took your flames with darkness, just like she did with your little blue friend!”

Natsu growled.

“Oh relax,” Epense sighed dramatically, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “Umbara’s Night Vision is only temporary. He’ll be able to see again, just like you’ll be able to shoot flames again.”

Lucy’s heart flooded relief into her veins as the words sank in; she glanced down at Happy in excitement, watching as the realisation dawned on his face. She hugged him tightly.

“It may take a while, since he’s so small,” Epense continued, pondering a cracked nail. “But it should be back in a few days, at most. My Blinding Sun however…” She winked at Natsu, causing him to shake. “Well, let’s just say a singed cornea is a bit harder to shake off.”

“What do you want?” Lily’s booming voice interrupted Natsu’s shaking one that was no doubt about to spit an insult. Epense eyed him lazily, her body language suggesting she was bored with the exchange.

“That’s simple,” She sighed, shifting what little weight she had to one hip. Her movements were fluid, but surreal, looking to Lucy like someone animated a doll. “We want you to stop following us. Leave Kale to us, we’ll handle him and then be on our way. You’ll never have to hear from us again.”

Lucy stared openly at the twins, waiting with baited breath for someone to speak again. Happy had stopped shivering, and was now curled in a ball trying to comfort himself. Natsu’s shaking had stopped, but the fire in his eyes burned brighter with every second that ticked by.

“And if we don’t?” Gajeel growled, no doubt wanting a piece of Kale more than any of them.

Epense giggled her unholy giggle once again, sickly sincere in the near silence.

“We’ll have to kill you,” She whispered, winking yet again. Lucy’s stomach tightened in fear; something about the way Epense looked at them gave her chills. It was like she was watching a show- this was entertaining to her.

“I’d like to see you try,” Natsu’s voice rose from his throat sounding hoarse and unused. Lucy guessed it was the smoke, but she couldn’t be sure; he could just be that upset. Epense paid little attention to him, toying with a strand of her hair.

Suddenly, Umbara raised a fragile hand, gripping her sister’s arm with a vice-like grip. Epense glanced at her and they made eye contact for a brief moment, resulting in an eye-roll from Epense. Lucy watched them, looking for subtle signs that they were communicating, but there was none. It seemed that they knew each other well enough to talk without saying anything, to say with a look what she needed to say with words. It was unnerving.

“Oh fine, I’ll let you handle it this time,” Epense groaned, looking like a child whose play thing was just taken from them. “But next time we do it my way, if there is a next time.”

“What are you talking about?” Levy demanded, getting braver with annoyance at being ignored. “Next time what?”

“Well, if you’re still insisting on following us to Kale,” Epense glanced at Natsu, then Gajeel, then back to Levy, completely ignoring Lucy and the two cats, “Which it looks very much like you are, then this time we don’t kill you. But if there’s a next time…” Her eyes began to glow a soft white, concentrating on Levy who was still half hidden behind Lily. Almost immediately, Levy’s eyes started to itch and burn, so much so that she had to turn away, wincing from the pain.

“Hey!” Gajeel threw a shot at Epense, breaking her concentration but not hitting her. The woman in white cackled again, getting great amusement from their antics. Lucy held out a hand to Levy, watching as she wiped the tears from her eyes and straightened.

“I’m ok,” She insisted, lifting her head to look at the twins again.

“That’s it,” Natsu declared, taking an imposing step towards the women. “You can forget us following you; you won’t be getting out of this clearing alive!”

“I beg to differ.”

Natsu moved to fire at Epense again, his anger bubbling out in near liquid fire, but suddenly he was stopped in his tracks. Lucy looked at him in confusion, but Natsu was staring straight at the twins, his mouth working in concentration.

“You won’t follow us,” Epense stated, whispering it like it was a command. “You’ll stay here until morning, and then you’ll return home with not a word of this to anyone. And just to make sure you don’t disobey… Umbara?”

The quieter of the twins moved her lips, but no sound came out that Lucy could detect. However, the light seemed to darken as the moon peeked out over the tops of the trees, shining on Umbara as she stood next to her sister. Was it dusk already? How long had they been here?

Below the moon, a grey mist slithered from between the blackened tree trunks, inching closer to the group. Lucy tried to move, but no one else seemed to be following her lead, Natsu still frozen as though his limbs were pinned to the ground.

Umbara’s lips were still moving as the mist moved, inching closer to them but gaining speed. Soon it would be upon them, Lucy had to do something.

She reached to her belt for her keys, but she couldn’t decide which spirit to call. Loke? Sagittarius? Aries? Who would be able to help them?

It was like an icy finger had poked Lucy’s calf. She looked down in horror as the mist met her skin, suddenly rushing around her in a tornado of cold and dissipating in the night air.

Lucy felt the warmth leave her in a rush, like a gust of wind had wiped any and all heat from her body. The shock of cold was so sudden that she didn’t even have time to shiver, her limbs immediately locking in place to conserve her life. There was a slight delay where her legs didn’t quite know how to react to the magic, but soon they began to buckle, her knees hitting the scorched ground with a loud thump that she couldn’t feel.

_No, no, no!_ Lucy fought the failing of her body, but it was in vain. Her knees were followed by her hip, then her shoulder, and final her head slammed against the dirt below. She struggled to force her limbs to life, but it was no use. Her muscles were solid, like they were made of ice, and were firmly unmoving. The others around her followed with cries of anger and defeat, crumpling to the forest floor with painful sounding bangs.

Epense’s laughter filled the night air, followed by a sickening rhyme that sent Lucy’s stomach into knots.

“ _Til the day here you’ll lie, if you make it through alive.”_

“What the hell are you singing about?” Gajeel snapped, his voice low and quivering from the cold.

Lucy’s eyes began to close, but she forced them to stay open long enough to drag her vision to the sisters where they stood, a few feet away from her. Epense glanced at Umbara, the look in her eyes substituting a wink.

“Umbara’s spell is a bit unique,” Epense winked, twirling her fraying dress in a broken circle. “The freezing will last until the sun comes up. If, that is, you manage to survive until then.”

Until the sun comes up. They were stuck like this all night, if they didn’t die from hypothermia before that. Lucy’s body shuddered violently; involuntarily shaking from fear or cold she wasn’t sure.

“You bitch!” Natsu snarled, struggling to lash out at the twins, but his limbs were as locked as Lucy’s, and he could only spout obscenities as the women disappeared in the dark of the night.

“What do we do?” Levy asked, glancing fearfully from Gajeel to Lucy to Lily. “We can’t survive like this all night; we’ll die before we can even think about the dawn.”

“We need to find some way to get warm,” Lucy looked around frantically, assessing their surroundings for anything that might help them in their current situation. “Damnit, if only the trees were still on fire.”

“Levy, can you use script magic?” Gajeel asked, his question met with a sullen shake of Levy’s head.

“I can’t move my arms,” She answered sadly, “I need them to write.”

“It’s ok, Levy,” Lucy smiled, watching as the darkened clouds moved above their heads to cover the moon. The wind was minimal amongst the trees, to her relief, but every now and again she could feel a brush of cold, reminding her of how little time they had.

“Wait a minute, Salamander,” Gajeel looked to Natsu, who was fighting to move his arms. “Can you start a fire? Even a small one would help.”

“I can’t,” Natsu cursed bitterly, opening his mouth and puffing as if to demonstrate. “I need to be warm to produce flames. Damn, this is so frustrating!”

“We’ll figure it out,” Lucy insisted, trying desperately to pull her knees to her chest. “Lily, Happy, any ideas?”

Lily grunted a dismissal and Happy remained silent, his eyes still wide and unseeing. “I think I’m actually getting colder, if that were possible.”

Lucy’s heart sank. The urgency in her chest had diminished, and fallen to a hopeless dismay. If they couldn’t move, how could they possibly survive?

“Damn them,” Natsu whispered harshly, his nose scrunched in hateful annoyance. “God damn them!” His fist slammed against the ground with a soft thud, earning a shocked glance from Lucy. “What?”

“Natsu, you moved!” Lucy watched as Natsu realised what she said and moved again, wiggling his fingers with relative ease. The whole group was looking at him now, at his amazed form, and his rigid muscles… “And you’re not shaking anymore!”

“She’s right,” Natsu murmured, struggling to stretch his arms. They moved with the fluidity of metal parts that needed to be oiled, but they moved. “It must be my internal fire… it’s not all gone. My weirdly high body heat is decreasing the length of the spell.”

“How long until you can stand?” Lucy demanded, hope driving her heart to pound.

“It shouldn’t be long,” He insisted, forcing his toes to move and being delighted when they did. “I’m a fire dragon, warmth is what we do!”

“Well get on with it and spread the warmth, will ya?” Gajeel snapped. “I can’t feel my anything over here.”

Natsu furrowed his brow, willing his body to move. The warmth was flooding him quickly, the more he moved the faster his blood would pump. Eventually, he was able to pull himself into a seated positioned, followed by many failed attempts at standing. His limbs moved like they were made of wood, throwing his coordination off marginally.

“Come on Natsu,” Lucy whispered, watching as he tried, and failed, to stand for the seventh time. Her vision was darkening, which she knew was a bad sign. If she lost consciousness involuntarily, there was a possibility she may not wake up. Lily and Happy were at more of a risk than her, she couldn’t succumb to the cold yet. She wouldn’t.

Setting his jaw, Natsu placed both of his feet flat on the ground, his muscles straining to lift his own weight, sweat beading on his forehead, until finally he straightened, his spine crackling softly from the effort.

Lucy silently thanked the gods.

“I’ll be back,” Natsu stood, resisting the urge to celebrate, and set to work.

His limbs were still stiff, but workable, as he quickly began arranging the half blackened pieces of wood into a burnable pile. Most of them were still usable, with only a couple damp or crumbling in his grip. His muscles ached from the effort of moving them combined with Umbara’s spell, but eventually he had accomplished his task, stepping back to admire the sizeable pile of wood. With what little flame he could muster, his body still fighting off the cold, he lit them, watching in relief as light flooded the clearing.

The heat hit him like a wall, giving life back to his limbs. He moved fast, lifting Lily and Happy and placing them close enough to the fire that they would warm, but far enough so they wouldn’t burn. Happy huddled against Lily like a crutch, squeezing his eyes tightly together.

“How are you, little buddy?” Natsu asked quietly, reaching down to pet Happy’s ear. The exceed leaned into his touch, still shivering from the weight of the cold.

“I’m cold,” He whined, inching closer to the fire. Natsu reached down to help him, but Lily beat him to it, helping him in any way he could even though his own arms stiff with the temperature. Natsu watched with a dull pain in his chest as eventually Lily managed to curl them both into a comfortable position, his paw placed next to Happy’s in comfort.

“I’ve got him, Natsu,” Lily insisted, nodding to the others. “You go help them, we’ll be fine.”

Reluctantly, Natsu nodded, standing and turning towards Gajeel and Levy. The Iron Dragon Slayer had managed to pull himself within range of the fire’s warmth, tugging Levy as gently as he could after him. Natsu quickly jogged over and helped him arrange her so that she was cradled against tightly Gajeel’s chest, tucked between the heat of the fire and any body heat Gajeel was building.

“Thank you,” She whispered, her voice quivering with the cold. Gajeel kissed her forehead lightly, murmuring that she should try and rest up before morning. Natsu stood back, choosing not to say anything.

He thought about asking Gajeel if he needed anything, but decided against it. He was so focused on Levy’s trembling body that Natsu doubted he’d hear him anyway. As much as they argued, Gajeel was a good friend, and he loved Levy more than anything in the world. It was almost enough to bring a smile to Natsu’s face, but not quite. The fact remained that Gajeel could actually protect those he loved.

Natsu wasn’t so lucky.

Finally, with a pained sigh, Natsu turned to Lucy. He’d put the bonfire close to her, so she didn’t have to move much. Her body was curled in on itself, her knees pressed firmly to her chest and her arms secured around them, holding herself together to protect her warmth. Natsu was beginning to feel the blood pumping in his veins again, his heart working double time as he approached Lucy.

Twice now. Twice he’d been unable to prevent harm from coming to her. It ate away at him like a rabid dog chewing on his insides.

“Are you feeling any warmer?” He asked, his voice coming out more solemn than he’d meant it. Lucy tried to manage a quick nod, but her muscles were still so stiff that she couldn’t move a great deal, and it came out as more of a shiver than anything else. Natsu bit his lip, grabbing another fallen tree and tossing it onto the pile, watching as it was consumed by the flames.

Lucy cracked open an eye as the light flared before her, illuminating Natsu’s sullen face to her for the briefest of moments. He wasn’t himself, he hadn’t been for most of their trip, and it was beginning to scare her. She wanted desperately to make him feel better, but she didn’t know exactly what was wrong. It was maddening.

Natsu stood staring at the flames for another moment before he turned back to Lucy, settling into the grass beside her. She looked at him, trying to smile, but felt she failed miserably as Natsu’s eyes only darkened. Her heart fell with her temperature. She was about to say something encouraging, when Natsu reached out to her and gently lifted, pulling her trembling body against his.

“What’re you doing?” She whispered, curling into him on instinct. Natsu tried his best to arrange them in a way that would provide Lucy with the most possible warmth, cradling her close to his chest and entwining their legs. Lucy helped where she could, moving to make him more comfortable, but he only pulled her back, determined to help her in any way he could.

“You’ll freeze to death by morning,” Natsu mumbled, looking beyond her into the fire he’d made. “I can’t let that happen.”

There was something else in Natsu’s voice, something that stood out to Lucy as troubling, but she couldn’t bring herself to mention it as warmth from Natsu’s body flooded her limbs, allowing her to finally begin relaxing.

Lucy sighed, unabashedly clinging to Natsu’s vest. He continued to hold her, covering one of her small hands with his own. He glanced down at it, seeing her guild mark in bright contrast with her pale skin. Her hand was cold, icy even, and it shook in his strong grasp. His heart clenched.

“What’s wrong?”

Lucy’s voice met him, muffled, from beneath his scarf. He looked down at her, only to be met with wide, concerned, brown eyes. He held her gaze for a moment, debating whether or not he should look away. Lucy had a way of drawing the truth from him, and he didn’t know if he wanted that just yet.

“Nothing,” He mumbled, putting on his best dubious expression. Lucy saw right through it, raising a curved eyebrow at him. He’d seen that look so many times that he had to resist a nostalgic chuckle, eventually sighing in defeat. He knew he could never deny the Lucy Stare.

“Ok fine,” He admitted, nodding to Gajeel, Levy, Happy, and Lily. “I’ve been a little down lately, just because I’ve been feeling kind of useless.”

“Useless?” Lucy repeated back to him, somehow sounding silly coming from her mouth.

“Yeah, like,” Natsu looked back at her, “Like I can’t protect my friends. I hate that.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Lucy scoffed, trying not to sound mean as she did it. “Your friends don’t need protecting. And even if we did, you’re more than capable.”

“Am I?” Natsu felt Gajeel look up from Levy and lowered his voice to a whisper. With his dragon hearing, Gajeel would probably still be able to hear every word, but Natsu didn’t want to act like that was true. “I couldn’t stop Kale from getting to you, I couldn’t stop him or the Twisted Sisters from getting away, I couldn’t save us from this freezing spell, I couldn’t even stop your nightmares. Don’t try to play it off,” He added as Lucy opened her mouth, presumably to protest, “I saw you tossing and turning.”

Lucy’s mouth snapped shut, both from the cold and the absence of anything to say. She knew that Natsu was an incredibly powerful wizard, and that he was more than able to protect anyone he set his mind to protecting, but she also knew how stubborn he was. Once he got something in his head that was it. He would take it to the grave unless something happened to change his mind.

Natsu was no longer looking at her, but instead staring into the flames again. Feeling was returning to Lucy’s limbs, thanks to Natsu’s elevated body heat and the raging bonfire beside her. She watched as the orange light flickered across his face, illuminating the worry he was trying to hide. It pulled at her heart, wishing she could ease his mind.

“I know it doesn’t mean much, coming from me,” She whispered, placing a hand against his cheek. He jumped a little, startled by the contact, but found himself leaning into it; the feel of her hand pressed to his face was oddly comforting. “But I never feel safer than when I’m with you. I trust you with my life, Natsu. I know you’ll always come through for me in the end.”

“But I haven’t,” He insisted, trying his best not to move or speak too fiercely for fear of Lucy taking her hand away. “This spell and your nightmares-”

“Stop it.” Lucy commanded, forcing Natsu’s eyes to meet hers. “This spell was nothing we were prepared for, that’s not your fault. And as for my nightmares, they’re Kale’s fault, if anything. Besides, I don’t-” She hesitated, the words catching in her throat before she forced them out. “I don’t… have them as much anymore; at least not when… you’re… with me.”

A twig in the fire snapped, the sound deafening in the quiet clearing. Natsu blinked at her, processing her words carefully before even thinking about responding. Lucy’s cheeks had flushed a light pink after her confession, although it could’ve been the firelight bouncing off her skin. His lips pulled into the tiniest of smiles; if he could at least make Lucy _feel_ safe, then that was enough for him, for now.

“Thank you, Luce,” He grinned, pulling her into a tight, lingering hug. Although she was startled, Lucy sighed, content with her work of comforting him, and smiled into Natsu’s shoulder. She didn’t know if she’d be able to handle such a complicated mission with Natsu’s spirits as low as they were; she was relieved that he wasn’t beyond consolation, despite the fact that it left her feeling embarrassed.

“Any time,” She whispered, leaning back so that she was closer to the fire. The warmth called to her, inviting her to stay in this comfort for as long as she possibly could.

As she looked, Natsu’s face was now in line with hers, their noses mere inches from touching. He blinked, his dark eyes suddenly frozen in the still night air, as Lucy’s mirrored his, her lashes fluttered out of nervous habit.

The only sound between them was the crackling of the fire, suddenly very loud in the otherwise silence.

“You should… you should get some sleep,” Natsu’s voice was hushed, softly shaking her from her trance. She quickly realised her lips had been parted ever so slightly, and hastened to close them, a deep blush coloring her cheeks.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” Lucy ducked her head so that she could safely hide her face, squeezing her eyes firmly shut against what she swore was a soft giggle from Levy’s side of the bonfire.


	9. Chapter 9

Lucy struggled to peel her eyelids apart as the crisp morning air struck her skin. As her vision focused and swirled, the wonderful sight of the sun beating down through the thick forest trees filled her with life and energy. It had been a long and difficult night curled beside Natsu’s thriving flames; her limbs were sore and stiff from stillness, and her muscles felt brittle as she moved. Despite all this, she was alive and beginning to feel warm.

She tried to stretch, but Natsu was still wrapped firmly around her, his arms too solidly placed to be asleep. Lucy tilted her head back and risked a glance at his face, being met with tired eyes and a furrowed brow. She realised then that he’d been awake all night, watching over her in case she fell into hypothermia. A small knot of guilt formed in her stomach; if it hadn’t been for Natsu’s unyielding will and endless supply of heat, Lucy doubted she would be alive to see the rising sun, and she had fallen asleep while he struggled through until morning.

“Are you ok?” Natsu asked her, his voice hoarse and strained from exhaustion. Lucy nodded mutely, her hair bunching at the back of her neck and pulling at her skin.

“You didn’t sleep at all, did you?” She was blunt, unapologetic, and accusing in her tone. A flash of guilt sparked in Natsu’s tired eyes, but he didn’t try to hide the truth. He shook his head, slowly unravelling his arms from around Lucy’s body and giving them a much needed stretch. She heard a quick succession of pops and cracks as his joints loosened.

“You won’t be fit at all to travel today,” Lucy reprimanded, rolling to her feet. The fire began to die down as the last of the wood crumpled in the heat, but her body temperature didn’t falter. She was back to normal, she could feel it. “You’ll be worse to deal with than Erza when she’s hungry.”

Natsu scrunched his nose. “I’m not that bad!” He insisted, but his tone was less than certain. Around them, the others began to stir as well, Gajeel groaning into the world of the living before anyone else.

“For fuck’s sake would you keep it down? I feel like someone beat me over the head with a tree.” He gripped the side of his neck as though to reiterate his point. Natsu discreetly rolled his eyes, but snapped his mouth shut none the less.

Levy’s rise was much more graceful than Gajeel’s; she unfolded herself from her spot on the ground, yawned delicately, and reached out to nudge Happy and Lily. The two cats stretched in the morning sun, standing as though nothing unusual had happened.

“Happy, can you see ok?” Lucy asked gently, holding out her hand to the little blue Exceed. Happy nodded vigorously, leaping into the air as if to demonstrate.

“Aye! My sight came back last night while everyone was asleep!” He explained, twirling. “I’m better than ever!”

Lucy smiled, the corners of her eyes crinkling in genuine relief. The entire group seemed back to their normal selves, all with the exception of Natsu who still looked like the life had left his limbs.

Almost on cue, he released an echoing yawn that shook his whole body. “I think I’m going to nap for a bit while you guys find some breakfast,” he groaned, curling into a ball on the ground. Lucy opened her mouth to assure him this was fine, but Gajeel’s voice crashed over hers.

“Oh no you don’t, Salamander,” He ground out, stomping over to Natsu’s defiantly limp body and gripping the back of his vest. Natsu began to protest but was abruptly cut short as Gajeel hauled him roughly to his feet. “If we don’t leave now we’ll never make it Magnolia before dark. After last night, I never want to sleep on the ground again.”

Natsu flailed, arguing adamantly that a twenty minute nap wouldn’t set them back too far, and that Gajeel was being stupid and unreasonable, but Lucy didn’t hear any of that. Her brain was caught on the word ‘Magnolia’.

“Wait a minute,” She instructed, grabbing their attention. “What do you mean, Magnolia? Aren’t we going after Kale?”

The clearing went suddenly quiet. Lucy’s eyes darted from Gajeel, to Levy, to Natsu, and back several times before finally settling on her little blue-haired friend. Levy’s arms were tucked protectively around her chest, her chin tipped down so that her eyes were cast to the grass beneath her feet.

“Levy?” Lucy prodded, taking a half step towards her.

She bit her lip, her eyes flicking up to Lucy’s face and then down again quickly.

“Well,” She began, her voice barely louder than a whisper. “Gajeel and I were talking last night, and… well we just thought that since the twins are just going after Kale… that it might not be such a bad thing if we… well if we didn’t-”

“If we didn’t waste our time saving the bastard,” Gajeel spat, finishing Levy’s thought for her. She flinched a little at the harshness of his phrasing, but otherwise made no move to correct him. Lucy blinked in disbelief.

“So… we’re going to let them get away.” She said it as a statement, not a question, knowing she understood perfectly what Levy and Gajeel were saying. “We’re going to let them all get away.”

“Not really!” Levy interjected quickly. “The twins, they’re going after Kale. He won’t be getting away, exactly. We just won’t be the ones going after him. And the twins haven’t really done anything necessarily _wrong-”_

A heated anger quickly ignited in the pit of Lucy’s stomach, bubbling to her lips before she could suppress it. “So blinding an entire village isn’t wrong? Exploding a building filled with innocent people is ok in our books now?” She snapped. Levy recoiled like she’d been hit with Lucy’s whip.

“They’re not the best strategists.” Gajeel grunted, a hint of warning in his tone. He was eyeing Lucy with more than a touch of disapproval. “But they won’t hurt anyone else now that they are on Kale.”

“Do we know that?” Lucy’s hands clenched into fists, her nails digging painfully into her palms. “What if Kale hides behind someone? What if he uses people as a wall? Do you think those sick-minded sisters would have any problem busting through them to get what they want?”

“Lucy,” Levy reached out a hand gently, but stopped herself before she got too close. “I know this isn’t how we normally do things, and I know it’s hard, but…” She glanced at Gajeel. “I can’t say I’d be too upset if they killed him. I know I wouldn’t be able to, and I wouldn’t want Gajeel to do it either. So if we were to go after him… he’d live. I know that’s awful to say, but it’s true.”

Lucy stared hard at her friend for a long few minutes before saying anything, angry tears pricking the corners of her eyes. On some level she understood; Kale wasn’t a man to Levy, to any of them really, he was a monster. One less monster in the world wouldn’t be something to cry about.

But they weren’t dealing with one monster, they were dealing with three.

Lucy took a deep breath, calming her racing heart. “If you don’t want to come, then you don’t have to.” She said confidently, setting her jaw firmly. “But I can’t sit back and let them get away. It’s not right. Not after all the people they’ve hurt.”

Levy’s face fell in shameful guilt as she averted her eyes from Lucy. The Celestial Spirit Mage rolled her shoulders and turned, taking a step towards the hole in the trees where the twins had once appeared.

Natsu, who’d been strangely quiet during the exchange, half-stepped in front of her and placed a firm hand on her shoulder.

“Natsu, please don’t argue with me.” She warned, her voice hoarse. Instead of protest, Natsu offered her a small smile.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” He winked. “I’m with you, Luce. Til the end.”

Lucy stopped then, turning her head to look at Natsu- to _really_ look at him. His hair had lost its normal lustre and was stuck up on one side, pushing his bangs haphazardly into his face. His skin was paler than normal, no doubt from the little sleep he’d gotten. His eyes were wide and sunken, but with an unshakeable glint in them that she was familiar with. He was standing before her, offering his support as he always did, tired and beaten, but with an unyielding smile and understanding that she was about to take for granted.

In that moment, all she wanted to do was throw herself at him, to hug him and cry as the weight of everything came crashing down around her. She wanted to smile and laugh and thank him for everything he’d ever done for her. Even when she may be acting irrationally, Natsu was there. She could’ve kissed him for that.

But instead she nodded silently, placing her hand over his in gratitude.

“Lucy, please, don’t leave.” Levy begged, her voice carrying over the still air. Lucy turned to smile at her friend, the corners of her mouth curving up encouragingly.

“We’ll meet you back at the guild,” She waved, jogging into the trees after Natsu.

.

“I don’t think this is the way to Fernhold,” Natsu grumbled, the lack of sleep affecting his mood in the worst of ways.

“We went by wagon last time,” Lucy reminded him, pushing a long branch out of her way. “This way would be unfamiliar.”

Happy had followed after their departure from the clearing and was now hovering close behind Natsu, dodging the foliage as best they could. The hike had been long and torturous, taking nearly a day and a half of vigorous walking with very few nap breaks in between. Despite the laborious task, they had made it with only minimally diminished spirits and a slightly dishevelled Natsu.

Lucy felt a pang of guilt as she remembered leaving Levy, Gajeel, and Lily on rocky terms, but this was something she had to do. She had made her decision to avenge the people of Fernhold long before this mission became personal,

“It’s not too much farther,” Lucy insisted, standing on her tiptoes to try and peer through the dense wood. She couldn’t see much, the leaves were too thick and layered. “I don’t think… Happy, can you fly up and look ahead?”

“Aye!” The little cat rolled his shoulders in determination, crouched, and launched into the air, up and spiralling out of sight.

Lucy waited for a few minutes, listening for some signal that they were close, but none came. Her impatience was growing, but she refrained from calling out. She knew she was tired, both mentally and physically, so that was affecting her patience. Still, when three minutes had passed and nothing from Happy had reached them, Lucy touched her limit.

“Do you see anything?” She asked pointedly. Natsu had collapsed on the ground beside her, trying to catch a few breaths where he could. He was more exhausted than any of them, his body no doubt at its limit.

“I can’t see the town!” Happy replied finally, poking his head down through the trees. “I can only see woods. Are you sure we’re going the right way?”

“Of course I am!” Lucy snapped again, pausing to collect herself. “Yes, I’m sure it’s this way.”

Happy gave her a doubting look, but he ascended anyway to get a second glance.

“Maybe we should take a break,” Natsu suggested hopefully, cracking an eye to look at Lucy. “If we’re far enough from Fernhold that Happy can’t see it from up there, then we’ll be walking for a while yet.”

He was right, she thought begrudgingly. At this rate, they would be too worn to do anything by the time they actually reached their destination. Lucy heaved a sigh and dropped her backpack; it met the ground with a loud thump that scattered dried leaves in every direction.

Natsu released his breath in a relieved gust, his head falling back onto his own pack. Lucy half expected to hear snoring, what with the rate that man could sleep. But the woods were quiet, except for the low hum of forest life.

Lucy folded her legs beneath her, dropping to the ground like her bag. There was a solid oak behind her, one she could lean against comfortably, and the branches blocked out most of the sun. Leaning back, relaxed for really the first time in three days, she began to feel how worn out she really was. It was enough to make her want to sleep.

“Wonder what’s taking Happy so long…” Natsu mused, mumbling as though he were half-asleep. Lucy tilted her head up to look at the trees above. The cat was taking a while, but that wasn’t unusual. He’d probably tried to scout ahead.

“Natsu?” Lucy said suddenly. Natsu grunted a reply, one that she took to mean for her to continue. “Do you think this was a mistake? Coming after Kale?”

Natsu was quiet at first, so quiet that she thought he finally had fallen asleep, but slowly he began to open his eyes and blink thoughtfully at the sky.

“This is important to you, Luce.” He said seriously, chewing on the inside of his cheek. A vein was pulsing in his forehead, so Lucy knew he was thinking hard. “And he’s a bad guy. They’re all bad guys. It’s not wrong for us to bring them in.”

“That’s not really what I asked…” She pointed out softly. Self-doubt was beginning to fog her mind, but she couldn’t tell Natsu that.

“It’s pretty much what you asked,” He argued. Lucy started to retaliate, but her voice was drowned in the sound of Happy above them, crashing through the branches and plummeting to the forest floor below.

“LOOK OUT!” He screeched, angling so he wouldn’t hit his friends. Lucy threw her arms above her head while Natsu rolled out of the way, each of them narrowly missing Happy’s fall.

“Happy, are you alright?” Lucy demanded, brushing the leaves from her hair.

“What the hell was that about?” Natsu snapped.

Happy scrambled to his feet, pointing and huffing in a direction to their left.

“There was a thing! In the woods! I saw it!” He exclaimed, earning an eyebrow raise from Lucy.

“A thing?”

“Yes! A thing!”

Lucy groaned in unconfined frustration. “A ‘thing’ could refer to anything at all, Happy!” The blue cat looked at her curiously, as though this thought hadn’t occurred to him before. “What kind of a thing? What did it look like?”

His face lit up. “A black blob!” He answered happily. Lucy resisted the urge to shake him.

“How big?”

“People sized!”

“So, was it a person?”

“Maybe!”

“Was it dangerous?”

“I don’t know!”

“Was it moving?”

“Maybe?”

Lucy huffed in annoyance, rolling her eyes and turning to ask Natsu what he thought of Happy’s ramblings, but she stopped when she saw his face.

Natsu wasn’t listening to Happy anymore. His nose was in the air, sniffing in every direction. His gaze was intense; the most focused Lucy had ever seen him. As she watched, his eyes hardened and he slowly fell into anger, or determination, Lucy couldn’t quite tell.

“I smell something…” He ground out. Lucy didn’t know if he was saying it for their benefit or if he was absentmindedly speaking.

“What do you smell?” Happy asked, oblivious to the dangerous set to Natsu’s shoulders.

He didn’t respond for a minute, sniffing the air carefully before spitting an answer. “A _thing_ ”

Natsu was on his feet and moving before Lucy could process what had happened. Without thinking, she picked herself up off the ground and charged after him, ducking to avoid a monstrous branch that threatened her with a black eye at best or a concussion at worst.

Branches and vines were slapping against her skin painfully, begging her to slow down and walk, but she couldn’t. She had to keep up with Natsu or she’d lose him in this dense maze of wood.

Happy had gone ahead, leading them as he weaved between obstacles; left, right, down, up, it was all so disorienting that Lucy couldn’t keep her head straight. She felt like she would fall if she forgot for one minute what she was doing.

Suddenly, Natsu disappeared ahead of her. There was a brief moment of panic before she realised he had just broken through the wall of trees, finally. With an elated breath, she threw her energy into her legs, propelling herself forward that one last step-

Lucy burst through the trees just after Natsu, fully expecting to still be running, but she collided with a solid wall of muscle that sent her tumbling to the ground.

“Hey! Watch-” Lucy stopped. Natsu was standing firmly in front of her, his back to her, and his arms thrown out in a protective stance. His shoulders were rigid, but shaking, so she knew he was prepared for a fight.

Lucy dragged her eyes away from him to the field they were in. It wasn’t necessarily a field, as there were still some scattered trees, but she didn’t know what else to call it. The ground was covered in grass, with a few rocks haphazardly placed throughout. On the other side of the open field lay the wall signalling the outskirts of Fernhold.

Happy couldn’t see that from the air? She turned to look at the blue cat, but he was in front of Natsu, hovering in place.

She finally moved her gaze to the center of the clearing, where a tall figure lay hunched near a tree. Her eyes widened as she took in the tattered clothes, the ruffled hair, and the bright, unsettling eyes.

“What’re you doing here?” Kale snapped, his eyes slowly focusing on Lucy. “Oh, it’s you.”

Lucy watched with disdain as the corners of Kale’s mouth turned up in a sickening smile, drawing an involuntary shudder from her.

“Hello again, Lemon.”


	10. Chapter 10

“You bastard!”

Lucy spat in Kale’s direction, fire igniting behind her eyes. The monster of a man grinned in slight annoyance, but otherwise he didn’t react. Natsu’s arm was in front of Lucy, holding her back in case she lunged at Kale. She wouldn’t, although he sparked molten anger in the pit of her stomach that she couldn’t control.

“Calm down, Lemon,” Kale insisted, rolling his pale eyes. Lucy resisted the urge to growl.

“What are you doing here?” Natsu demanded, lighting his fists to intimidate.

Kale didn’t say anything at first and during the silence Lucy noticed his clothes were different from before. He had abandoned his prison clothes in favor of torn jeans and an oversized sweatshirt. It didn’t lessen his presence, as Lucy thought it might, but instead faded into the background of his overall appearance. If anything, his shoeless feet drew her attention away from the slight disarray of his hair.

Kale grinned at them like a condescending parent tolerating infantile questions from their children. “What does it look like I’m doing here?” He asked, spreading his arms from side to side.

“Sitting?” Natsu guessed before thinking. Lucy resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“Waiting,” Kale corrected, pulling his arms in from their stretch. Although he was leaning casually against the tree trunk behind him, Lucy felt like there was something slightly off about his posture.

“Waiting for what?” Natsu asked. “Waiting for us?”

A bird screeched from somewhere in the distance.

“Close,” Kale admitted. “But you’re not exactly the pair I was expecting.”

“You’re waiting for the twins.” Lucy meant it as a question, but her tone made it sound like a statement. Nonetheless, her point came across. Kale nodded.

“I’ve been waiting longer than most for my death,” He conceded, his bright eyes no longer on Natsu and Lucy but somewhere far away. “It only seems fitting that I should meet it here.”

“Death?” Natsu echoed. Lucy could tell by the crease in his brow that he was confused. She was too, if she were being honest. Kale knew the twins were out to kill him, but why would he stop running?

Kale blinked at them, his eyes focusing on the present once again. “I’m sure it’s no shock to you that the twins are out to kill me. I certainly can’t blame them, and if I’m accepting of it then why do I get the impression that you two are not?”

Lucy paused to consider this. The thought of someone dying had never appealed to her, no matter how horrible they’d been in life. It was against her morals, her beliefs, everything she stood for. She couldn’t let someone sit and wait to die while she was standing right there.

But this was Kale.

“No please, be concerned for me,” Kale smirked. “It’s been so long.”

Lucy resisted the urge to turn away in disgust.

Kale’s smirk shifted to a small reflective smile. He looked almost human this way, like he was at peace with the world. Lucy wondered if it was false.

“I suppose you still have questions,” He said suddenly, catching the distinguishable confusion in their eyes. Rolling his shoulders, Kale took a deep breath and faced them directly. “I have nothing better to do; so tell me,” The wind brushed Lucy’s shoulders, sending shivers down her spine. She wasn’t sure if it was the cold, or Kale. “How much do you know?”

.

_“It’s terminal, I’m afraid.”_

_A young man with strikingly blue eyes visibly slumped in his seat. Normally, he would be too proud to allow another living thing to see him defeated, but it wasn’t every day you were told you’re dying._

_“There’s nothing that can be done?” He asked, pleading hidden somewhere in the depths of his silken voice. “We’ve come so far since my father, there must be something.”_

_The man standing across the room heaved a sigh. His normally thin, lightweight medical coat was heavy on his shoulders today; not only did he fear for the life of his patient, but also himself._

_Kale was not a man one gave bad news to and survived._

_“Unfortunately all the research we’ve done has done nothing but reinforce the mortality rate, sir.” The doctor pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “None of our staff has seen anything like it. It’s extremely rare.”_

_Kale sank back into his seat, folding one leg deliberately over the other. It had been a tiring month. Managing the newly instated fight ring was causing more headaches than he’d expected. He was driving himself into the grave, right after his father._

_“What about the wizarding staff?” He mused, lacing his fingers together around his knee. The doctor gulped; he tried not to, but he’d been dreading this question ever since the task of finding a magical cure to a physical disease had been assigned to him._

_“W-well,” He stammered, adjusting the x-rays he was examining on the board before him. “For the most part we’ve have very little progress,” He said carefully. For a brief moment, he thought about leaving it at that, but it would be suicide. Kale would find out. He always found out._

_“There is one thing we discovered, admittedly,” He said slowly. He could feel the sweat forming between his shoulder blades. “But it’s untested and high risk. We don’t even know if they’re aware they have the ability-”_

_“Who?”_

_“Th-the twins, sir.”_

_“La Lumiére De La Nuit?” Kale cocked an eyebrow. “What do they have to do with this?”_

_“Well, after some research,” The doctor continued quickly, not wanting to risk Kale running out of patience. “We think we’ve unlocked some of the secrets of their magic. You see, we think they’re actually much older than the little girls they look to be-”_

_“What does this have to do with me?” Kale demanded, impatience coating his voice._

_“We think they may be able to share their ability, which is to keep themselves living, with others. It would require a lot of magic, and testing, but I firmly believe we can do it.” The doctor’s words came out in a fierce rush, trying to quickly remove himself from Kale’s line of fire._

_Kale was silent for a long moment, contemplating the information he’d just been given. The twins were his prized possession; they were a sure-fire win in every match. If this procedure killed them, he would be out a lot of money._

_But he may be alive._

_“Where are the twins now?” He asked, his tone measured._

_“In their pen,” The doctor answered warily. “Would you like me to retrieve them?”_

_“Yes,” Kale nodded slowly. “And make it snappy.”_

_._

Lucy was struck silent for a long time, her tongue slowly drying in her mouth. She processed the information as it was given to her, but the implications had her tongue-tied.

Kale looked sickeningly proud of himself, waiting patiently with a pleasant smile on his mouth for Lucy and Natsu to collect themselves. Natsu was rigid beside Lucy, his shock and anger rooting him to the spot.

“You could’ve killed them,” Lucy whispered, more for herself than for Kale. He simply nodded, leaning his head back once again.

“And now they are going to kill me,” He stated matter-of-factly, “It’s only fair.”

“But how will they kill you?” Lucy asked. “If they gave you their immortality, can they take it away?”

Kale blinked at her in annoyance. “The twins didn’t ‘give’ me their immortality, stupid girl. They still have it. I just have it now too.”

“How about you explain before I blow your head off, _stupid_ man.” Natsu quipped. Kale couldn’t hide his amusement.

“Epense uses magic drawn from the sun; Umbara uses magic drawn from the moon.” He glanced up at the sky, where the sun had fallen just below the horizon, and the moon hovered at the edge of the trees. It was still light, but it was quickly fading. “After some… persuasion, the twins used their magic to make it so that neither the sun nor the moon would affect me, essentially rendering me immune to the passage of time.”

“So their magic works together then?” Lucy prodded.

“Yes,” Kale confirmed. “They were both able to use their magic on me, but for some reason we never could figure out, they cannot use their magic on each other. So they must stay together to live.”

A light flicked on in Lucy’s mind. Slowly she was beginning to understand everything that had been going on since they started this awful mission. “So if they separate, they’re mortal?”

“Exactly. Together, their magic works in harmony to keep them alive for eternity. Apart, they are only affected by their own magic and therefore they age at different times of the day; Umbara during the day, Epense at night. Your friend Madison taught them that.”

“Madison?” Lucy exclaimed, “As in, _the_ Henry Madison?”

“The very same,” Kale nodded. “Madison was reaching magical immortality. I suspect the twins learned of his research and used it to understand themselves. That’s why they’ve only come after me now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was only able to control them by allowing them to think that I couldn’t be physically harmed. Since they didn’t understand their own magic, they thought that I was telling the truth.”

“So you used scare tactics,” Lucy spat. Kale grinned.

“This is making my head hurt,” Natsu groaned, interrupting. “They don’t age at night? So they age at half the speed of normal people? I’m confused!”

Kale chuckled. This whole situation was much more complicated than she had given it credit for, and she didn’t know what they had to do. Kale was immortal, but not in a regenerative way. They could injure him, perhaps even kill him with attacks, but that was not the style of Fairy Tail. They wouldn’t kill him, but would they be able to stop the twins from trying?

“So to defeat them…” Natsu trailed after another exasperated explanation from Kale, “We just need to separate them and attack them individually?”

“Defeat?” Kale scoffed, breaking into a wholehearted chuckle. “My dear children, they are far too old to be defeated. If you separate them, they will surely die. Apart they are fragile, together they are indestructible.”

A lump formed in Lucy’s throat. Die? She didn’t want them to die. She didn’t want anyone to die, not if she could help it.

“Well then we can talk to them,” Lucy offered stubbornly, folding her arms across her chest. “They want to kill you, not us. What harm can it do to-?”

Kale held up a hand, effectively silencing her. “You don’t understand. They may want to kill me now, and maybe that’s all they _think_ they want, but it’s not. I’ve groomed these girls to be killing machines. They don’t know anything else. It honestly amazes me they’ve held back for as long as they have. Once I’m dead, and I will be,” He added as Lucy opened her mouth to protest, “They will not be satisfied and they will turn on you. They’ll turn on everyone. Trust me,” He winked, “I know.”

“How do you know?” Natsu snapped. “You don’t know them anymore.”

“I know them better than they know themselves.” Kale insisted. “Perhaps when they were young and determined, perhaps before I found them, perhaps if they’d escaped me sooner, perhaps even if they’d failed at breaking me out, they may have been able to be persuaded, but not now. Now- now they’re killers. They will always be killers. I’ve made sure of that.”

Somehow, Lucy knew he wasn’t lying. The twins would become perhaps the most formidable villain they’d ever faced, and they had to do something about that before it began.

“You know what you have to do,” Kale glanced at the watch on his wrist. It was leather, worn and cracked with use. “You’ll just have to suck it up and get your hands a little dirty Lemon-”

A flash

A gasp

A scream

…Red.

Lucy hadn’t realised she was screaming until Natsu grabbed her, pulling her away from the bright spurt of blood that erupted from Kale’s throat.

It was cut.

Lucy’s eyes rounded. She couldn’t close them. She couldn’t blink. She couldn’t breathe. Eventually she closed her mouth, bringing absolute silence to the clearing.

Kale’s body went rigid, his back arching in a perfect curve as he sputtered, his face caught in an expression of pleasant surprise. He looked at Lucy and Natsu, watching in horror, as blood trickled down the taut skin of his neck and onto his tattered clothes.

There was a solid thump as two figures, thin and frail, fell to the grass in front of them. Epense and Umbara stood before Kale, their backs to Natsu and Lucy.

There was silence. Lucy expected a speech, an ultimatum, some sort of acknowledgement, but the twins were silent. She didn’t think they were doing anything at all until she saw thin tendrils of black and white smoke trickling from Kale’s eyes.

“Our contract is over,” One of them whispered solemnly, motionless in the fading sunlight.

Kale fell to the ground, twitching grotesquely before them. The smoke was draining his life before their eyes, his skin losing life and lustre, his hair thinning and falling from his scalp.

Lucy watched. Natsu watched. Neither could do anything but. The twins were like statues, emotionless and unmoving. Kale’s body was nearly broken, his blood flowing slow and thick from the incision that had been made. Lucy looked at his face; it was hollow. She was going to look away, but Kale caught her eye at the last moment and she was frozen, stuck watching the light leave him as he managed one last wink at her.

He was dead.

It felt like years before anyone moved again. Natsu shuffled his feet and it was like a trigger. Lucy straightened, her eyes still locked on Kale’s body. It was nearly unrecognizable now, a small crumple of limbs on the ground.

Epense whipped her hair over her shoulder, releasing a maniacal, high pitched shriek of victory. She began to laugh, the sound shrill and terrifying.

“You killed him”

The twins whirled, facing Natsu and Lucy for the first time since they’d arrived. They were haunting, their usual daunting appearance amplified by the bright specks of Kale’s blood clinging to their dresses.

Epense smiled, signalling Umbara to move. They began to run, but Lucy had seen all she needed to. She saw the nearly tangible blood lust in her eyes and it was like the world came crashing down around her.

Kale was right.

Natsu moved before Lucy had even registered what had happened. In an instant, his arms were secured around Epense’s waist and they were falling, their faces driving painfully into the ground.

Epense shrieked in rage, but the sound was muffled by the dirt against her mouth. Umbara clearly hadn’t heard her, and she kept on running.

“Lucy, go!” Natsu yelled to her, struggling against Epense’s thrashing body. “Go now!”

She hesitated for only a moment, worry for Natsu reflected in her shining brown eyes, but she knew what she had to do. Gritting her teeth, she turned and ran.

Natsu watched with relief as Lucy disappeared into the trees after Umbara. They had done it. They separated them.

Epense hauled herself free from Natsu’s grasp with a violent shake, skittering across the ground like a scared beetle. Natsu pulled himself to his feet, watching her carefully as she righted herself.

“You little snake,” She spat, her limp hair falling into her eyes. He could tell from the way her fists shook with fury that he’d gotten exactly what he wanted.

Natsu couldn’t stop the smirk that lit his face. “Actually,” He grinned, stooping into a fighting stance and watching with deep satisfaction as his flames lit the air around him, “I’m a Salamander.”


	11. Chapter 11

Lucy’s chest was on fire as she tore after Umbara through the thick maze of trees. The information she’d received from Kale, along with his sudden death, swirled in her mind and confused her, weighing her down with thoughts and emotions. She fought them, determined to keep up with the fleeting form before her.

She didn’t have to give chase for too long; Umbara was beginning to slow. It occurred to Lucy that she was probably realising that her sister was no longer with her, and she may begin to panic and attack. Lucy quickly fell back and watched.

She jogged to a stop at the same time Umbara did, both women bending to catch their breath. Umbara looked strange in the forest ahead of Lucy; her frame was small, her posture fragile, and now she was flitting about like a scared bird. Lucy almost felt bad for her.

“Epense?” She heard Umbara whisper. It was broken, light, and breathy, but it had come from Umbara’s mouth. Lucy stiffened as she realised it was the first time she’d really heard Umbara speak.

The woman looked around, peering through the trees as though her sister might be hiding from her. Lucy thought for a brief moment that she should do just that; hide until Umbara began to move again. But she couldn’t; she needed to face this evil before it grew out of hand.

“She’s not here,” Lucy voiced boldly, flinching as Umbara panicked at the sound of another person. Umbara stared at her with wide, dark eyes, her small mouth open in a quivering ‘o’.

Upon seeing Lucy, Umbara turned as if to flee yet again. She hovered there for a moment, indecision written on her hollow face, broken from her trance when Lucy spoke again.

“I know what happened to you,” She said softly, thinking back to what Kale had told them. She may not understand everything that had happened, but she knew enough. Two legends had been humanized in front of her on the same day; Kale was a monster who’d taken advantage of two young wizards who’d been shunned by their family. He’d used them for his own selfish reasons, turned them against the world, and now one of them was standing in front of her looking no more fearsome than a scared child.

Kale was wrong. Lucy could talk to this woman. She wasn’t a threat anymore.

Umbara stared at Lucy, refusing to open her mouth. Lucy was sure they’d never meant to hurt anyone other than Kale, or at least Umbara hadn’t. The bloodlust she’d seen in the clearing had come from Epense, and that worried her. But she trusted Natsu’s judgement; he would do the right thing.

“You were just trying to get revenge,” Lucy prompted, trying to stop Umbara from making another escape. She was still hovering as if decided what to do. “Kale wronged you in a way no one could ever imagine; he used you, he made you do awful things, and he almost killed you. I understand that was hard, harder than anything I’ve ever been through-”

Lucy yelped as an unseen force smacked her in the chest, propelling her backwards into a tree. Her skull snapped against the bark, but she was still conscious albeit in pain. Umbara’s hand stretched towards Lucy, the last of her magic evaporating before her eyes.

Lucy coughed as she fell to the ground, keeping a close eye on the sister. She’d overstepped, that was all. Umbara panicked and responded in kind, it wasn’t unjustified. Lucy told herself this, but there was a nagging worry that had settled into her stomach.

Umbara eyed Lucy warily. She hadn’t moved since her attack, and now Lucy risked pulling herself into a crouch. She could see the lonely toddler in Umbara’s black eyes as she measured her pained breathing.

“Where’s Epense?”

Umbara’s voice carried on the breeze, just loud enough for Lucy to hear. She shook her head apologetically.

“She’s with my partner,” Lucy admitted, panic rising in her throat as Umbara lurched towards the way they’d come. “Wait! Please!” She cried, side-stepping to block her path, although there wasn’t much she could’ve done if Umbara had truly tried to run. Umbara recoiled like a cornered cat, hitting Lucy in the side with another weak blow.

“I want my sister.”

“I know,” Lucy tried to soothe her, to distract her. The dull pain in her torso was annoying at best, limiting at worst, but she was determined. “You two do everything together, right? Like when you broke into Madison’s house?” Umbara blinked. “You were looking for a way to undo the immortality spell you put on Kale. You wanted to fix the mistakes you thought you made. But Madison’s research showed you something totally different, right?”

Umbara blinked again.

“Kale always told you that after the spell took hold he couldn’t be hurt, but that was wrong.” Lucy was rambling. She was desperately trying to make a connection with Umbara; if she could get one sister on their side, perhaps they could convince the other. “He wouldn’t age, but you could still kill him physically.”

“So you busted him out, chased him down, and took your revenge for all the things he did to you.” Lucy kept eye contact with Umbara, ensuring she wouldn’t lose her. The atmosphere had shifted since Lucy started talking, although she hadn’t taken much notice. The death of Kale had sent her into a state of shock, and some parts of her brain were still firmly on autopilot. “But you’ve done it now, Kale’s dead.” Lucy gulped, finally pulling herself upright. “What do you plan to do now?”

Umbara stared unblinkingly at Lucy, her wide eyes drinking in every detail of her face. Lucy tried not to squirm under the scrutiny, breathing calmly as Umbara sank into a slow crouch.

She watched, making note of Umbara’s body language. Lucy tensed, preparing for some kind of attack, worrying that she’d again gone too far, but Umbara remained where she was.

Suddenly, a quiet whisper drifted across the space between them. It was too quiet for Lucy to make out, but it sounded like a song. She crept closer, keeping her eyes on Umbara in case she overstepped her confusing boundaries.

“- _Beware…Nuit,”_

Lucy strained to hear the words coming from Umbara’s moving lips. She was chanting, quickly and quietly to herself.

“- _When darkness creeps into your sight,_ ”

Lucy balked. She was singing the rhyme, the children’s rhyme that Jellal had sent to her.

“- _Your vision robbed of all its light,_ _Legend speaks of mortal girls,_ _One of dull and darkened curls,_ _One of flooded holy light,_ _Stolen futures tall and bright,_ _Do not trust all that you see,_ _Know La Lumiére de la Nuit-”_

Lucy hesitated, fearful of breaking the trance Umbara had slipped into, but as she was distracted she stepped on a fallen twig. She froze; it was easy to forget what had happened with the people of Fernhold, but in this moment Lucy was painfully aware that Umbara had the power to make her go blind.

Umbara’s head swivelled back to Lucy with the sound, her chanting becoming furiously fast and high pitched. Lucy flinched, thinking she was casting some sort of spell, but she was very mistaken as Umbara continued with the rhyme.

“ _A child's tears brings a smile,_ _Lured by deceitful boyish wiles,_ _KnowthewhipthecurdledscreamsFighttokeepfromhopefuldreams,AseedofrageisplantedthereTogrowingrittedsilencefairTormentedheartholdsthekeyToLaLumiéredelaNuit-”_

Lucy took a shaky step back, Umbara’s words quickly escalating to garbled screams-

_“-HateinhidingfuriousfuelTOOVERTHROWATYRANT’SRULE-”_

The rest became drowned in panicked sobs, ones that shook her very soul. Lucy reached out to Umbara but was batted away furiously, the frightened woman snatching Lucy’s arm and twisting it until she heard a sickening snap. Lucy jumped back and watched in horror as Umbara lunged away from her, maintaining her crouch as she did so. She got a few feet away before her sobs turned to panting, slowly regaining what little composure she’d had before.

Lucy listened. The rhyme was continuing, closing in on the last verse:

_“So when parents tuck their children in, And promises the sun to return again, Lies their vicious tongues will speak, Into their hearts the black will sneak, Murder and mayhem doomed to rise, Horror blinds the experienced eyes, Turn your back, pray to be free, Fear La Lumiére de la Nuit.”_

The air fell to a heavy silence as Umbara gathered herself. Lucy had been rendered speechless; her tongue felt thick and dry in her mouth. She knew the twins were a little off, but Umbara seemed to be the worse for wear. She sat now, shaking off the aftereffects of the fit.

Beyond the mania, Lucy could see a small glimmer of hope. This woman wasn’t beyond help; she could talk to her, continue trying to break through. She’d seen that there was something there when they’d been talking before, she just needed to grab onto it.

She pushed away that little voice that told her she was kidding herself.

.

Natsu dove sideways as Epense threw another blaze of white magic towards him. It missed by a solid mile, but he couldn’t relax. The sister had been keeping him on the ropes since she’d struggled free of him, and he couldn’t stop his mind wandering to Lucy and her opponent.

He’d deliberately chosen Epense when he caught one of them; she seemed stronger, crazier, and severely more deadly. Natsu didn’t trust her within ten feet of Lucy.

“You persistent, oily little speck!” Epense shrieked, firing another string of attacks. Natsu dodged and countered, grinning evilly at Epense’s obvious trouble blocking him.

“If you’d stop fighting back I wouldn’t have to be so persistent!” Natsu yelled, roaring a column of fire at Epense. She screeched and dove to the trees, shielding herself from the heat.

“Leave us alone!” She screamed at him, her hair frizzing in the presence of his flames. Epense was looking shaken, more so than Natsu had ever seen her. He thought to Umbara and how they’d been separated; it must be that.

“What, so you can kill more people?” He’d almost added ‘innocent’ in front of the word ‘people’, but he thought of Kale’s eyes and the look he gave Lucy whenever he saw her… and the word evaporated on his tongue.

A sharp pain shot through his side as Epense choked on a laugh. “More people? Boy you have no idea how many I’ve killed! I’m done with this silly game!” Another attack from somewhere behind him. When had he lost sight of her? “Killing is in my past! It’s a long forgotten memory to me now!”

“It’s a habit!” Natsu snapped, aiming his fire in a large circle. He heard some shuffling to his right and tightened the focus of his flame, but Epense was gone yet again. Instead, there was a slight crackling as a magical bomb went off, blindsiding him.

Natsu fell to the ground in horrible pain. Epense had been planting bombs the entire fight, and he’d been hit by a few of them. When the first one went off right after Lucy left, he’d panicked and thought Epense was using her blinding magic. He’d been wrong, thankfully, and the bombs only provided a blast of physical energy. It had been easy to cope with, but now his body was beginning to feel the effect of shouldering more than one hit.

He heard a shuffling to his left, fired, and heard a scream. He’d hit her, but not too hard it seemed, because another blast collided with his head a moment later. Natsu fell to the ground, writhing. Epense swung around him, gathering more energy for another blast.

“You can’t stop killing, not once you’ve started.” Natsu spat, regaining his footing once again.

“Don’t pretend to know me!” Epense snarled. She was in front of him now, angrily eying him without fear. There was a small pulsing orb of light in her hands, the beginnings of another bomb. “You know nothing of what I’ve been through! I want my sister, and I want you to LEAVE!”

She fired, but she was emotional now and Natsu deflected it easily. He was thinking of Lucy again, and the way that she’d look at the situation. He found himself doing that as of late, caught in a difficult position and asking himself: what would Lucy do?

She wouldn’t want to kill Epense. Even after everything that had happened during this mission, Lucy would never want to kill the twins. Natsu knew this, and he also knew that if he wanted to get out of this situation in one piece, he should jump right to the killing.

Instead, he powered down.

Epense watched suspiciously as Natsu raised his eyes to look at her. He would do what Lucy wanted and search for something, anything that would save the twins from a murderous destiny. Natsu promised himself that if he saw anything in Epense’s eyes that resembled hope, redemption, change, _anything_ , he would spare her. He wouldn’t kill her. He’d stick to his morals and let her live. Natsu was harder than Lucy; when Kale said they’d have to kill the twins, Natsu accepted it. He didn’t like it, but he knew that a day would come when defeating was simply not enough. He’d have to kill, and he’d never ask Lucy to do it.

He’d sent her away with every intention of catching up. He’d planned on killing Epense and, if he succeeded, Umbara would die as a result. That much he had understood from Kale’s speech. Lucy would never have to kill anyone. She could blame the whole thing on him if she wanted to, although he knew she wouldn’t. She’d blame herself, and if Natsu could stop that guilt from crushing her he certainly would.

Epense eyed him. Natsu was still searching frantically for some sign of salvation when the pit of his stomach clenched and he found his fists tightening once again. He’d searched and he’d searched-

But he’d found nothing.

Epense’s eyes held a poorly hidden bloodlust that Natsu had only seen a handful of times. Her irises were dull, emptied of light, and immediately he knew there was no hope for her. Not anymore.

His odd behaviour had taken Epense off guard. She faltered, and that hesitation was all Natsu needed to aim his fist directly at Epense’s heart.

There was a horrible gasping sound as Natsu’s flames licked Epense’s skin, blazing a path through her chest and bursting through the other side. She was dead before the fire left Natsu’s arm.

Natsu remained suspended with Epense’s body. Suddenly there was a small spark and the bomb Epense was holding exploded. There was a massive wave of smoke, magic, and heat, that nearly seared even his skin. The trees shook around him, leaves and branches swirling in the air.

He barely had time to register that he’d killed someone before he was barrelling through the air, propelled into the sky. He registered shock and pain before he backed out entirely, his body going limp as he soared.

.

Lucy watched as Umbara composed herself. She’d been breathing heavily for a solid five minutes without showing any other signs of even being alive. Lucy had begun to panic when finally Umbara began to turn.

Suddenly, there was an explosion behind her. Lucy flipped around as fast as she could manage, gripping her injured arm tightly with her good hand.

She was blindsided by a wave of heat seizing the air around her. It nearly knocked her off her feet, but Lucy’s balance was shockingly steady. If she had turned, she would’ve seen the blank look that took over Umbara’s face.

Ignoring the heat and scanning the skies, Lucy’s eyes zeroed in on a trail of smoke originating from the clearing where Natsu had taken on Epense.

“Oh no…” Her heart filled with dread, both for Natsu’s safety and Epense’s, watching and waiting with baited breath for something to tell her if it was too late to turn this around.

A small black dot appeared in the clouds, plummeting towards her with deadly speeds. She had a split second to jump out of the way before Natsu’s beaten body crashed to the ground at her feet.

“Natsu!”

He didn’t answer her. He was charred, bruised, and bleeding, but he was still breathing and that meant he was alive.

“Oh my God…” Lucy’s legs were shaking. She wanted to drop to Natsu’s side, to see if he was going to be alright, but it felt like she was made of lead. She had never seen Natsu this badly beaten before, and the sight was unsettling.

“You…”

She whirled, shocked into awareness by the sound of Umbara’s voice. It sounded as though she’d be punched in the throat, low and broken. Her sharp features were twisted into a look of grief-stricken rage.

“Umbara?” Lucy whispered cautiously. Her eyes shot from Natsu’s broken body to Lucy’s face in an instant, her entire demeanor shifting from shock to dangerous determination. Lucy resisted the urge to gulp.

“You…” She began again, speaking over the violent winds that had suddenly appeared. Despite the quiet of her voice, Lucy heard her perfectly. “You killed her…”

Lucy’s heart was pounding painfully in her chest. Her question had unintentionally been answered for her, but now she was wishing it hadn’t been.

“Umbara, please…” Lucy held her hands in front of her, like she was coaxing a small child. “I didn’t-”

Umbara cut her off with a strangled cry, her fists balling at her sides.

“ _You killed my sister!”_

There was a crash, followed by an eruption of blackness from Umbara’s mouth. Lucy watched in shocked horror.

The woman shook violently, staring coldly at Lucy and Natsu on the ground before her. The look in her eyes was one Lucy rarely saw, but it was impossible for her not to recognize. She was going to blind them, kill them if she could, and there was nothing Lucy could do to stop it.

“Please,” She whispered, her voice cracking under the intense pain she felt in her body. Umbara’s attacks had not been light on her, and now she was aware of her hurt more physically than she was mentally, “Please don’t do this.”

Umbara lifted her shoulders in a subtle gesture of indifference. Power was surging from her frame, clouding the air around her. Lucy shuddered, her breath hitched with fear. She hadn’t felt like this before; her body was a stone, cold and heavy in the fading light.

“Lu…cy…”

Natsu voice struggled to her ears. Lucy whirled around as her fear’s grip on her body shattered with the sound of Natsu’s voice, falling to her knees beside his heaving chest. Sharp fragments of stone clawed at her flesh, yet the cold had numbed her legs so she felt the pain as through a thick layer of padded gauze.

“Natsu,” Lucy cried, her hands hovering over Natsu’s body, wanting to clutch him but afraid of the pain it may cause him. Natsu cracked open one eye, forcing his lips into a weak smile. “Are you ok? Can you stand?” She choked, her voice dropping in severity. “Natsu… can you _see?_ ”

Natsu summoned a chuckle that fell to ash on his tongue. “Don’t be so serious, Lucy,” He assured her. “I’ll be okay, I promise.”

Lucy’s bottom lip began to tremble. She glanced up at Umbara who’d begun to swirl the clouds around her in lingering patterns. “I’m so sorry,” She said to Natsu, digging her fingers into the rocky ground. “This is all my fault. I should’ve stayed out of it. Natsu…” Her voice caught on the grief rising in her throat. She’d been feeling the weight of her decisions this whole time, but she’d never admitted it out loud until now.

She squeezed her eyes shut against the guilt she felt. Tears welled and trickled down her muddied face. If she could redo everything, take it all back, she would in a heartbeat-

Suddenly warm skin brushed against the dampness on her cheek, fingers rough from a life of intense work and a rash personality. Lucy blinked at Natsu, trailing his soot-smeared hand delicately over her skin.

“Come on Lucy,” He whispered, cradling her crying face in his palm, “don’t cry. Smile for me,” He shot her a genuine smirk, as if to demonstrate what he wanted her to do. Lucy held his gaze, the chaos around them slowly dissolving to white noise. “And don’t worry about me-”

“How can I not?” Lucy demanded sharply, her voice rising. Visions of Natsu’s bright eyes dulled by Umbara’s smoke filled her mind. She was too weak to move him; she was too weak to even move herself. They were going to go blind, maybe even die, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. “Natsu, I- I-” She gulped. “She’s going to take away our light-”

“Hey,” Natsu interrupted her, squeezing slightly with his warm palm. “As long as you keep smiling,” He winked, “there will always be light in my life.”

“Enough,” Umbara hissed. Her words barely rose above the growing roar her clouds had made. Lucy looked up, instinctively jerking away from the mass of black smoke she saw before her. Umbara raised her quivering arm, flinging it towards the ground in a sweeping gesture.

“No,” Lucy whispered.

Umbara’s body bowed in a sickly shape, her chest thrust forward and up towards the sky. The wind was whipping around her in wild gusts, tearing her hair away from her scalp. There was a thunderous crash from somewhere above them, the air around them growing dark.

“Lucy, get down!”

Natsu’s voice met her ears weakly, but she couldn’t obey him. Lucy’s eyes were fixed on the dying sister, her eyes aglow with flashing black light. Umbara’s smoke gathered before her, sparking with the intensity of her magic, while her life quickly drained away. The wind ferociously tore at the trees until one snapped, sucked into the vacuum of air Umbara was creating. It collided painfully with her ribs, snapping them beneath her skin; she screamed.

All at once, the wind stopped. Everything settled to an eerie calm while Umbara, suspended in the air, fell limp. Lucy watched in horror as her body crumpled to the forest floor, the last of her powers trickling slowly from her eyes like tears.

“Is it over?” Lucy whispered to herself, eying the pulsating orb of black smoke warily. It hadn’t moved since Umbara’s fall, but it hadn’t dissipated either. She opened her mouth to speak again, but suddenly the smoke shuddered, silencing her before she began.

The ominous cloud rose in the air, trembled, and erupted.

The smoke barrelled towards them, snaking along the ground as though it were alive, wrapping around trees and shrubs in all directions. Lucy’s tears had stopped, her eyes grasped by shock, as the smoke rose to block Umbara’s body from their view. Lucy gathered the rest of her strength and threw her trembling body over Natsu’s vulnerable one, shielding him from the eternal night that faced them.


	12. Chapter 12

Natsu struggled against the bonds around his arms. He couldn’t see them, he couldn’t see anything, but he felt them there. He couldn’t move himself, no matter how hard he tried, and even though he couldn’t see anything, he knew Lucy wasn’t with him.

Where was Lucy?

Flashes of light, flame, blue, and black swam across his eyes. Natsu’s head pounded, his body ached, and although he couldn’t remember much he felt like something really bad had just happened.

An image of Lucy smiling at him materialized in his mind. He reached out to her, but the image only moved away. Natsu frowned. Why was Lucy leaving him? He tried to follow, but she only moved farther and farther away, slowly disappearing into the blackness of his vision.

Natsu chased her, his limbs burning from the effort. He still felt like he couldn’t move, but he also felt like he was. It was a strange limbo, but it didn’t matter. He had to find her, he had to get to-

“Lucy!”

Natsu struggled upright, blinking away the sudden brightness that assaulted his eyes. The dense forest still surrounded him, muddling his thoughts with mass amounts of green.

He scrunched his face, closing his eyes to steady himself. Memories came back to him in painful flashes of distorted images.

Epense. Umbara. The fight.

Lucy.

Panic surged in his chest as he frantically tried to spin himself around, searching for her, but his head was dizzy and he nearly forced his face into the dirt below him. Apparently he’d been hit harder than he realised. Slowly, he lifted his chin, surveying the trees, his eyes darting every which way until they locked with a pair of large brown eyes, sparkling with tears in the morning light.

“Lucy,” He breathed, her name leaving his lips in a relieved sigh. Lucy had seated herself just beside him, her small hands clenched in tight fists at her knees. He assessed her quickly; she was clearly hurt and tired, but it didn’t look like she had any severe injuries. Natsu’s heart began to slow into a relaxed rhythm.

“Natsu!” Lucy exclaimed, relief flooding her voice, “You’re ok! You can see me?”

“Of course I can see you,” He laughed, pulling himself into a seated position. “You’re right there.” He pointed just to the side of her body. Panic crept into Lucy’s eyes, her mouth forming a small ‘o’, before Natsu adjusted the direction of his arm, grinning wickedly at her.

“Don’t do that!” She groaned, pouting at him. “You gave me a heart att-”

Her complaint was cut off as Natsu reached out to her, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her against him. His arms wound around her body, pressing her into him with a subtle desperation that was almost impossible for her to pick up. She blinked, her cheek flush against the rise and fall of his chest. Lucy’s lips curved into a small smile; she secured her arms around his torso, relishing in the warmth of his body.

“You’re ok,” Natsu whispered to himself, “You’re really ok.”

Lucy glanced up at him and she could see a sincere relief in his face, the kind of relief that only followed a gripping, unrelenting fear. Her stomach clenched.

“Natsu,” Lucy pulled away from him slightly, casting her eyes to the ground. Natsu quirked his head to the side, resembling a curious puppy in his mannerisms and expression. “I have to apologize to you.”

“What for?” He asked, bewildered.

Lucy bit her bottom lip, chewing it methodically. “I almost got you killed. If Happy and the others hadn’t shown up when they did, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

Natsu raised his eyebrows. His memories continued to return to him: Umbara sending her smoke, Lucy diving to protect him, Happy’s panicked voice in the air, and then…?

Gajeel had positioned a shield of steel to protect Natsu and Lucy. He couldn’t remember clearly, but he thought he’d seen Levy using her script magic to siphon the dangerous magic away from them, up into the sky.

“Levy was the real hero,” Lucy offered, as if reading his train of thought. “She figured out how to negate the properties of Umbara’s magic after she trapped it. It was nothing more than steam by the time she was done.”

Natsu frowned. He’d have to put up with Gajeel boasting about saving his ass. Gray would never let him forget it either. “Where are they now? How did they find us?”

Lucy continued to chew her lip. “They felt really bad about leaving us, so they followed. Gajeel sniffed us out, but got lost with the overpowering smell of bloo-” Lucy paused, choosing to move on. “Happy spotted them when he was flying, that’s where he disappeared to, and led them back to us. They showed up just in time to-”

She swallowed hard, the guilt evident in the way she held herself. Natsu fought back his own guilt at not keeping her from this.

“They’re gone to get help now,” She answered, blinking softly. “We can meet up with them later, but right now I need to say this: I put you at risk,” Lucy continued her earlier apology, her voice small and weak. The guilt was crushing her, pressing her chest in on herself. “I put myself at risk first, and you almost paid the price for that. I can never make that up to you, Natsu. I should’ve known better and I’m sorry-”

And then he was kissing her.

Lucy’s eyes widened in surprise. Natsu’s hand was warm and firm against her cheek, gently guiding her lips to meet with his. His other arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her flush against his body. A blush crept up Lucy’s chest, coloring her breasts, neck, and cheeks a rosy pink.

What was happening?

She could feel Natsu’s hard, worked muscles moving smoothly beneath his skin as he led her forward, leaning back into the ground they sat on.

This was shock. This is what shock felt like. It seized her into a frozen state of stiffness, unable to think or process coherent thought. Her emotions were clouding her mind and body, screaming at her until she couldn’t avoid listening.

_This is right_

_This feels right_

_Don’t stop_

_Kiss him_

_Please don’t stop_

_Natsu_

The details of her thoughts and the position of their bodies slowly drifted away with the closing of her eyes as she succumbed to the gentle kiss.

Natsu’s lips were warm and soft, delicately massaging hers into a blissful state of peace. Lucy felt herself melting against him, twirling her fingers in his wild pink hair, tugging on the locks ever so slightly without really realising what she was doing. She wanted to kiss him harder, deeper, as intensely and meaningfully as she could possibly muster, but just as her resolve settled into the depths of her heart, Natsu broke the kiss and released a contented sigh.

Lucy’s eyes blinked open to find him staring at her, a brightness in his gaze she had never seen before. He grinned at her, his chest heaving in a fast paced rhythm that matched hers perfectly. Lucy suddenly became aware of their bodies; Natsu flat on his back, his hair tangled with the grass beneath them, his hands and arms holding her tightly, and her resting on top of him, her skin tingling with the contact between them. Her blush deepened.

“I need to tell you something,” He said suddenly, his eyes dark with worry despite the excited flush of his cheeks. Lucy could only wait patiently, her body still in a state of shock.

“I killed Epense,” Natsu whispered, although he was sure Lucy had already figured that out. “I killed her because it was the…” He chewed on the word before he said it, knowing it was wrong but not sure what the correct term was. “…right thing to do. She wouldn’t have stopped, Lucy. I saw it. I saw the look in her eyes and I knew she was beyond help. If she’d gone to prison…” Lucy watched as Natsu struggled to find the words, almost like he was asking for her forgiveness for what he’d done.

“It wouldn’t have been enough,” He said eventually. “She was immortal. Prison can only hold someone so powerful for so long.”

Lucy blinked quietly at him.

“I know this isn’t something…” Natsu began, stuttered, and started again. “I know killing isn’t what you wanted. But please don’t feel like this was your fault, it wasn’t. I chose to do this, and I chose to do this because it was the best decision I could’ve made at the time.”

Lucy remained quiet for a long time. She could see in Natsu’s eyes that he was anxiously awaiting her response. She knew Natsu had killed Epense, and she knew that if Natsu had decided it was the best course of action then it was the best course of action. She could never doubt him, even if the entire mission gave her a feeling of nausea.

“I love you, you know.”

Lucy jerked her gaze back to his, not noticing it had wandered in the first place. He held his boyish grin, relaxed and happy as though he’d stated something particularly ordinary or obvious. Even still, she could see the worry behind his eyes. Lucy blinked a few times, still in a daze from the kiss. She stared at Natsu for a minute, working out her own thoughts. Finally, she sighed.

“I’m… oddly ok with that,” She smiled, knowing he would understand she was talking about more than just his feelings towards her. “I trust you, Natsu. I do. Yes, it’s hard, and yes, maybe I’m not overly thrilled about how things turned out but…” She tilted her head to sweep a strand of her hanging hair across Natsu’s nose. He scrunched it, fighting the urge to sneeze. She laughed. “I’m just glad you’re ok. I love you too, you know.”

Natsu’s hand reached up and cupped the back of her head, pulling it down so their foreheads touched. His eyelids drifted lazily closed, a smile tugging the corner of his mouth.

“I’m glad,” He said, relief and amusement coloring his voice. “Otherwise that kiss would’ve made things a bit awkward.”

“You’re right,” Lucy chuckled, closing her eyes as well. “Lucky for you though, there was nothing awkward about it.”

.

“Lucy!”

Levy and Gajeel met up with them just outside the forest, Happy trailing along as a guide. Natsu had managed to pull himself to his feet and limp through the thin underbrush with Lucy’s help. He’d need to be carried or carted back to Magnolia though; Lucy mentally prepared for the motion sickness.

“Levy!” Lucy’s eyes welled as she hugged her friend, gripping her tightly. “I’m so sorry for how I acted! I was being irrational!”

“No, no,” Levy insisted, giving her a watery smile. “It was my fault; I was being selfish. We should’ve went with you. Maybe if we had things would’ve gone differently… I’m so sorry.”

Lucy shook her head, hugging her again. “You have no reason to be sorry-”

“Oi,” Gajeel barked, gesturing to Natsu who’d grabbed onto his arm for support. “Let’s just agree that we were all jackasses so we can get Salamander to a doctor, alright?”

Lucy and Levy blushed, but nodded. Happy floated next to Lucy, thanking the world that they were ok and that they’d gotten there in time.

“I don’t even want to think about what would’ve happened!” He wailed, tears welling in his eyes. Lucy gave him a quick hug.

“There’s a wagon and driver waiting for us just over the hill,” Levy explained, pointing. “It’s not far. He’ll take us to the guild from here.”

Natsu groaned in response.

“Hey Lucy,” Levy tugged on Lucy’s arm, pulling her just out of a normal person’s earshot from Gajeel and Natsu. “Is it true? Is Kale really…?”

Lucy looked at Levy’s face. Her eyes were wide with wonder and just a little bit of morbid hope, but her face was wrought with wrinkles from the intense stress they’d all endured. Eventually Lucy nodded, watching as Levy processed the information.

“I… I don’t know how to feel about that, to be honest,” She smiled, picking up their pace again. “One half of me still doesn’t believe it. The other half is kind of disappointed I didn’t get to do it myself.” Her hands shot to her mouth. “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that!”

Lucy brushed her off. “It’s ok.” She was trying not to think about the fact that three people had died back there, even if they were enemies. This was one mission she’d be filing away for reflection at a much later date.

The sun was high in the sky now, the colours of nature bright and inviting. Gajeel helped Natsu down over the hill and into the back of a large wooden wagon, manned by an older gentleman in a blue tunic.

Lucy climbed into the wagon with Natsu, taking his hand in hers as the wagon lurched forward. Levy caught the small gesture and raised an eyebrow at her, to which Lucy responded with a deep blush.

There would be a story for them to tell when they finally returned home, and Lucy was determined to tell it. She would write it all down, not to share an amazing adventure with her friends, but to shed light on the cruelties of a monster. She would never let Kale’s crimes fall into the darkness, and she would certainly never let the world forget what he’d done to two outcasts many centuries ago.

Natsu and Gajeel groaned simultaneously, Gajeel dropping his head back onto the wood of the wagon and Natsu gripping Lucy’s hand just a little bit tighter. Levy giggled, offering to conjure up some water for the two of them, but both emphatically declined.

“Are we home yet?” Natsu moaned. He’d been lying down on the floor of the wagon, resting as best as he could with his nausea and multiple injuries.

“We’ll get there when we get there!” Gajeel snapped, although he looked no happier about it than Natsu was.

Lucy smiled. Yes, she had a story to tell. They all did.


	13. Epilogue

“I think we should stay at my place tonight,”

Natsu’s statement took Lucy a bit off guard, startling her so much that she dropped her laundry. She turned, quirking an eyebrow at him. Natsu’s expression was indifferent, too indifferent in her opinion.

It was late evening in Magnolia, the sun having disappeared below the horizon. Lucy was having a lazy day, catching up on chores and settling back into the swing of every day life. She and Natsu hadn’t gone on a mission since the ordeal with Kale and the twins, and she was enjoying the peace but quickly becoming antsy for work.

“What about Happy?” Lucy asked, eying Natsu suspiciously. The little blue cat had complained frequently about his newly acquired status as third wheel. Despite this, he didn’t keep his distance. She often felt like rolling her eyes, but for the most part resisted. She still loved the little fuzz ball after all. “Won’t he be upset?”

Natsu shrugged his shoulders, examining a nail in the wall with too much intensity. “Happy is staying with Wendy tonight, he won’t be home.”

Lucy continued to eye him, her intuition telling her there was more to this story, but she decided to drop it for the time being. “Sure,” She shrugged, grabbing a pair of pajamas from the laundry basket before her. “Give me a second to grab some things and change.”

Natsu’s mouth twitched ever so slightly before he managed to compose himself. “I’ll meet you outside then,” He nodded, stepping outside the door a bit too formally. Lucy shook her head, smiling to herself. When Natsu had something planned he was like a child, he thought he was being sneaky but really it was plain to her something was up. She shoved her pajamas into a bag, sealed it, and started rummaging through the basket yet again for something she could wear now.

Deciding that if Natsu had something planned at his house she should dress up at least a little, she picked out a soft blouse, colored a deep red, and dark jeans. Sure, maybe Natsu’s idea of ‘something’ was an impromptu fishing trip, but Lucy loved to dress up, and she almost never got to anymore.

She paused as she reached for a hair clip on her dresser. This would be the first time her and Natsu would really be alone since the business in Fernhold. What exactly was Natsu expecting-?

“Stop it, Lucy,” She chided, pulling her hair away from her face and pinning it in a messy bun low on her scalp. She was overthinking things. Smiling to herself, she grabbed her bag and rushed to meet Natsu at the door.

.

Lucy sighed. What was taking that boy so long?

They’d arrived at Natsu’s promptly, but he’d left her outside the door as soon as they’d gotten there.

“Just hang on a second,” He’d insisted, opening the door behind his back and slipping soundlessly inside. Lucy held out a hand to stop him, it was cold outside and she hadn’t brought a jacket, but he was already gone.

She leaned against the wooden door behind her, jumping as the cold assaulted her skin. Natsu’s house was truly a nice little place, if only he kept on top of the upkeep. She tilted her head back, gazing at the stars above her. She smiled.

“Ok, you can come-”

Lucy stumbled back with a yelp.

Natsu had opened the door behind her, making her lose her balance and collapse backward.

She reached out wildly, trying to catch herself, but she missed everything she grasped for, falling against Natsu’s chest. He chuckled behind her, wrapping his arms around her to steady her. Lucy flushed, embarrassed and annoyed, as Natsu laughed.

“Maybe you should give me some warning before you do that,” She grumbled, casting her eyes downward. Natsu laughed harder, tightening his grip on her. She couldn’t help but smile a little herself; Natsu’s laugh was so infectious.

“Alright, alright,” She mumbled, “Let me up.” Lucy pushed against Natsu’s arms, suddenly noticing they weren’t bare. “What?” She questioned, looking down in confusion. “What the hell…?”

Turning, Lucy nearly stumbled yet again. Natsu was standing before her… at least she thought it was Natsu…

“What do you think?” He winked, striking a ‘manly’ pose. “Got Gajeel to help me buy new clothes- oh wait. I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.”

Lucy was too busy ogling at her boyfriend to appreciate the little morsel of gossip he’d just let slip. Natsu looked completely different; he was wearing dark-wash jeans, a fitted white dress shirt (that he filled out marvellously, she may add), and a black leather vest over top. His scarf, of course, still sat loosely around his neck, but Natsu wouldn’t be Natsu without that.

Lucy’s eyes were wide with surprise. Natsu grinned at her, clearly pleased with her reaction.

“Wait til you see inside,” He insisted, tugging on her arm. Lucy followed without protest, her curiosity nagging at her brain.

The house was dark beyond the entrance, so Lucy couldn’t see much initially. She thought she could make out some shapes that were unfamiliar to her, but she wasn’t positive as to what they might be.

Natsu let her hand drop from his and approached the fireplace in the far end of the living room. Lucy knew it was in that general direction, but she didn’t know he was planning to light it until a jet of flame sprang from Natsu’s throat and ignited a piece of dry wood in the fireplace bed.

Lucy blinked in surprise. Natsu’s house was still Natsu’s house, but it was vastly different than she remembered. The room was clean, for starters, with everything in its place and not a speck of dust on any surface. The low table in the corner of the room had a bottle of deep red wine sitting in some ice, with two plastic tumblers next to the bottle. Lucy stifled a giggle.

“I couldn’t find any actual wine glasses,” Natsu pouted, following her gaze. “I had to make due.”

Lucy nodded, but largely ignored him as she studied the biggest change to the little house.

In the corner of the room, nearest to the fireplace, there was a large bed. It was clearly built for two people; made of thick oak panels and stained a dark chocolate brown. She couldn’t see the sheets because the bed was made, but the comforter was a rich navy blue with gold accent pillows and what looked like a grey throw at the foot.

Lucy blinked at it, opening her mouth to say something but finding her words were lost. Why had Natsu gotten a bed? He was usually perfectly comfortable on his hammock or the worn couch below the window.

“Isn’t it great?” Natsu asked proudly, his eyes bright with enthusiasm. “I felt bad that Happy and I always crash at your apartment, so now you can stay here sometimes!” He walked over to the bed, glancing back at her for a reaction. “Levy helped me pick it out. That’s what I was supposed to say, not Gajeel.”

Lucy continued to blink, slightly open-mouthed.

“And besides,” Natsu hurried, thinking Lucy was less than impressed by his gesture. “If you ever wanted to move in then we have somewhere to sleep!”

Natsu watched as Lucy processed everything. She was beginning to smile, a slow smile that lit her face like a candle on a cold night. She could feel the tingle of tears forming in her eyes, happy tears as she watched Natsu’s face shift from hopeful to panicked in the span of 2 seconds.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like it?” He asked worriedly. “I can undo it all, it’s no big deal, I can just-”

“Stop it,” Lucy shushed him, taking his hand in hers. He looked down at her, his eyes wide and soft. She smiled. “I love it. I love everything about it.”

Natsu watched her for a moment longer, making sure she wasn’t lying to him, and burst into another proud grin. He hugged her, letting her go a moment later to grab the bottle of wine and the cups.

“Cana says it’s good,” He said with a shrug, handing her the tumbler. Lucy took it and swirled the liquid for observation. “I think I just want to have a quiet night,” Natsu explained, nodding his head towards the fireplace. It was the only source of light in the room, and the semi-dark was incredibly relaxing.

“That’s a great idea,” Lucy agreed, thinking about the jobs she was hoping to start picking up soon. She took a few steps forward until she was close enough to the fire to feel the heat on her skin. She sighed.

Lucy felt so at home here, like she could be in her living room, yet she also felt exotic, like she was in some faraway place where only she and Natsu existed.

She touched her finger to her glass, wiping away the condensation that had built up around the rim. Natsu had done a wonderful job, she thought, and it warmed her to think it had all been for her.

Suddenly Lucy felt Natsu’s heated lips against the back of her neck. She jumped a little, surprised at his touch, but quickly sank into the warmth of him. She smiled fondly. Natsu’s breath caressed the nape of her neck, her skin tingling deliciously.

The night was quiet outside of Natsu’s house. Lucy listened for any signs of life, but all she could hear was Natsu’s soft breathing as he explored her.

His hands encircled her waist, moving slowly over her stomach and hips. Lucy shivered as one of his fingers slipped underneath the hem of her shirt. Natsu’s skin had always fascinated her; it was so soft and yet it wasn’t smooth. He had rough hands, but they moved soothingly against her skin.

His finger swirled in experimental circles, slowly widening to a full massage of her waist. Her flesh exploded with goose bumps, her chest and face blushing furiously. He hadn’t explored her body much since they’d defined their relationship, but it was mostly because of Happy. Lucy closed her eyes contently.

“Is this ok?” He asked quietly, his mouth still pressed against her skin. The warmth of his body and the heat from the fire collided to form a wave of lush relaxation that washed over Lucy. She nodded and pressed back against him, leaning the back of her head against his shoulder. She was very aware of him, of his large frame against her back, and of his equally large hands moving over her.

Lucy relished in the feeling of his hands against her skin; it was perfect, the flow of his movements. Natsu seemed to have precise control of his body; he was aware of every touch, every twitch, everything. Lucy supposed it was to be expected of a fighter like Natsu, one who used his body to accomplish such magnificent feats.

Her mind began to drift to the other things he may be able to accomplish with his body.

She flushed as her brain wandered to less innocent thoughts, tightening the depths of her stomach into a nagging need. Lucy shook her head, attempting to relieve herself of the internal embarrassment she was feeling.

Natsu had become more comfortable with his exploration as he began to kiss behind her ear, his hands at her ribcage. He was enticed by Lucy’s body. Everything about it called to him, beckoned him to learn all he could, to memorize every sweet detail of the woman he loved. He softened his kisses to a light touch; Lucy’s stomach lurched in a wonderful way, setting her heart aflutter.

Her thoughts were beginning to go wild. Natsu was walking a thin line between sweet and sensual, and it was driving her crazy. The tantalizing feel of his lips against her skin had sent her into a downward spiral that she was having trouble pulling up out of. She was new to these feelings, new to these experiences, and still she was picturing Natsu, his toned figure, his devilish smirk, his rippling biceps hovering over her…

She shook her head, her stomach twisting deliciously. She wouldn’t say anything, she couldn’t. Not yet. Natsu felt her stiffen and pulled away from her, his hands freezing in place.

“You ok?” He mumbled, sweetness coating his voice. His biggest fear with Lucy was that he’d accidentally make her uncomfortable or, worse, hurt her. He lightened his touch on her, giving her ample space to move away from him if she felt the need. He prayed she wouldn’t. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” Lucy assured him, trying to pull herself together. Natsu’s presence was unravelling her. She hadn’t pictured him before as the strong, heated, wonderfully sexy man he could be. Now that she’d noticed it, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. The dress shirt he’d donned for the occasion suddenly fit him _too_ well, his biceps straining against the soft white fabric, his shoulders wide and rounded beneath the surface. Lucy’s heart skipped a beat. “I’m sorry,” She laughed nervously, “It’s not your fault.”

Natsu tilted his head to the side. He had hoped tonight would help to alleviate some of the stress Lucy had been feeling since Kale. She was hiding it well, but Natsu knew she was still feeling the guilt of the situation and it was a large part of the reason he’d refused returning to work. Maybe he was pushing her too far? He turned her to face him, examining her flustered face. No, that wasn’t the problem. So then what?

“Hey,” Natsu smiled, lifting her chin with his finger. She met his eyes and the stars shone back at him, drawing him in to their twinkling depths. He brushed his thumb over Lucy’s jaw, leaning down to capture her lips with his.

Lucy held herself back, afraid she’d give something away by moving, but Natsu’s kiss was so addictive that she sunk into it with a nip from his teeth. He pulled her bottom lip into his mouth, dancing over it with his tongue. She reached up to grip his hair tightly with her free hand, meeting his kiss with a passionate one of her own.

Natsu’s mouth was so hot, the warmth pressed against her tongue and lips like a wall, teasing her with promises of the way it would feel other parts of her body. She steeled herself again, her blush returning.

His hands slipped to the smooth curve of Lucy’s rear. Natsu hadn’t meant them to, but the seamless way her silk blouse fell against her figure had tricked him into caressing her lower than he’d intended. He was so lost in her, in the way she felt against him; God he loved this woman.

Lucy whimpered at Natsu’s hands against her. She didn’t bother to wonder where his wine had gone, involuntarily pressing into him, a heat pooling in the soft fabric between her thighs. She could picture his hands everywhere on her, feeling her, learning her, driving her. For a moment she let herself be consumed by the image, forgetting herself. Natsu chuckled against her lips and she froze, the realisation of how she was acting hitting her all at once. She began to shake with the magnitude of her blush.

“Lucy?” Natsu whispered, his voice light and airy, “What’s-?”

He stopped. Lucy heard him inhaling deeply once- twice- three times. The blush hadn’t faded from her features. His stomach clenched suddenly, his muscles taut with self-restraint. The scent of her arousal hit him hard, momentarily dazing him.

Lucy couldn’t bring herself to look at him. She was confused, but more than that she was afraid that, somehow, he’d figured out what she’d been thinking. She shuddered, good or bad she didn’t know, at the thought.

“Lucy…” He whispered then, capturing her divided attention; she noticed his voice had changed. It was deep and husky; her name had left his lips with a smoky, sultry twang.

She lifted her eyes to look at him then, cradling a hand against her chest. She was hit with a sudden paralysis when she met his gaze; Natsu’s eyes were black with lust, his expression hazy with it. Lucy blinked up at him, watching as he continued to inhale sharply, his shoulders quivering. His features were half in shadow from the flickering firelight, and it added intensity to him that she couldn’t shake. Lucy felt her heart constrict under his wanting eyes and it wasn’t long before her brain pieced together what had come over him so suddenly.

She was aroused… and Natsu could smell it.

Embarrassment clouded Lucy’s mind. She ducked her head down, hiding behind a veil of golden hair.

“I- I-” She stuttered. Her thoughts had gotten away from her, and her vivid imagination had taken over. In that moment, she cursed Natsu’s heightened senses.

Before she could stutter out some sort of explanation, Natsu’s hands were on her hips, his fingers pressed firmly into the soft flesh there. She was still talking, but gasped as he jerked her forward, his lips crashing into hers, her cup of wine falling to the floor beside her.

She heard the smash, felt the liquid pool around her feet, heard Natsu kick the tumbler away, and then she was swept up in him. She moaned quietly, her self-control shaken by Natsu’s ferocity. Her fingers gripped his shoulders tightly, securing him to her. It was so satisfying, her nails digging into the soft fabric and flesh beneath that she’d been admiring before.

Natsu pushed her across the room, guiding her with his large steps, until the back of her knees collided with the low slung bed. Lucy fell then, her back bouncing off of the satin fabric. Natsu landed on top of her, bracing himself on his arms so he wouldn’t crush her. He kissed her feverishly, caught up in the intoxicating scent of her. Every nerve in his body was on fire, drawing him into the exotic pleasure that was Lucy. They were only kissing and yet he was completely and utterly lost in her.

“Natsu,” Lucy breathed, his name a whisper on her lips. Natsu struggled to pull himself away from her, calming his pounding heart.

“Sorry,” he ground out, catching his breath. “Got a bit carried away.”

“It’s ok,” Lucy whispered, “I don’t want to stop you.”

Natsu blinked at her, his pupils large with his own desires. Lucy’s hands slipped from his shoulder to the front of his vest, slowly peeling the fabric loose. She’d heard from Levy how possessive dragons could be, but she’d never seen the dominance first hand before. Now, as she was absorbed into Natsu’s enticing gaze, the implications of that look excited her beyond measure.

The edges of Natsu’s vest fell away from his chest, followed by the flaps of his shirt, revealing his hard muscles for Lucy’s viewing. She admired them for a few seconds, raking her fingers across his abdomen. Natsu growled, dipping his head to resume their kiss.

He became a living fire, his movements heated and powerful. Lucy whined as he ground against her hips, pulling restlessly at the fabric covering her body. He was always gentle with her, always so careful; feeling as his control began to quickly unravel was new and exciting.

Lucy reached up and took one his hands, guiding it to her breast. She placed it there, watching as his expression shifted from shock to hunger in a matter of seconds. He began to squeeze, but she stopped him, reaching up to grab a fistful of his soft, pink hair.

She pulled, bringing his face down to hers. She gazed up at him, their chests rising in sync with each other, their breath ragged, and their skin flushed. Lucy parted her lips just enough to capture Natsu’s bottom lip between her teeth. She pulled lightly, earning a satisfying moan from him.

“I love you,” She insisted, her tongue darting out to sooth his swollen lip. “I’ve never done this before. But,” She put her mouth next to his ear. “Don’t be _too_ gentle. I… I want my dragon.”

She hoped that wasn’t as lame as she thought it sounded, but was delighted to see Natsu grinning; his eyes alight with devilish excitement. “Do you now?” He whispered, trailing hot, open-mouthed kisses down Lucy’s front. She shivered, watching as he made his way from her neck, to her navel, and back again. He opened his lips to whisper against her skin, letting his heated breath wash over her. “Baby, you got him.”

Placing his closed lips against her skin, Natsu caressed her body, stopping where the edge of her bra gave way to exposed cleavage. He turned his head, using his canine to hook the fabric into his jaw, tugging sharply.

Lucy heard a soft rip, watching with baited breath as her newly ruined bra fell to her sides, exposing her. She inhaled suddenly, impressed and aroused by the glint in Natsu’s eyes as he dipped his nose, grazing it over the sensitive skin of her breasts.

“You’re awful pink, Lucy,” He whispered, admiring the deep blush that colored her skin. “Are you sure you want the full dragon slayer experience?”

His tongue pushed through his lips, touching the tip of one of Lucy’s breasts. She gasped, a sound that quickly turned into a moan as Natsu’s tongue slipped to curve around the sensitive bud, caressing it with heat. Lucy nodded, her chest heaving as Natsu began to suckle lightly. She’d never thought of it before, but Natsu’s movements felt practised. Was he just naturally gifted, or was she the only virgin in the room?

It was difficult to be bothered by the thought, Natsu’s hand had moved to stimulate her other breast, brushing over her skin in gentle touches and stealing her concentration.

Natsu leaned up until his lips could reach Lucy’s once again, sinking into a full-body kiss that sent Lucy’s heart into a frenzy. She relished in the taste of his mouth, tangling her fingers in his soft hair, pulling at it and loving the satisfaction she felt when he moaned. When had Natsu undone her jeans? She felt the fabric at her waist loosen, and then tighten again, as his hand slid beneath the edge of her panties, travelling further still at a painstakingly slow pace.

She inhaled sharply as one of his fingers pressed against her, stroking her in gentle, slow repetition. He was deliberately avoiding giving her what she clearly wanted, she could tell by the way he chuckled at her frustrated groans.

“This doesn’t feel very dragon-y,” Lucy tried, squirming against his body. She couldn’t take much more teasing. Heat was pooling between her thighs, begging to be attended to. But Natsu insisted on taking his time, circling her with tantalizing touches.

“That comes after,” Natsu assured her, smirking devilishly against the skin of her jaw. He trailed kisses over her neck, pausing only to nibble at her ear. “You need to be dripping before I can ravage you.”

He had a way of making her heart stop, Lucy was learning quickly. His voice met her ears, low and seductive, just as one of his fingers slipped easily inside her.

Natsu reveled in the feel of Lucy wrapped around his finger. She was warm, even to him, and slick with arousal. It was driving his instincts wild, and he had to fight to keep them in check. He would pleasure her until she couldn’t take any more, and that didn’t happen with him losing control.

He swirled his finger in little circles, drawing heated breaths and moans from Lucy. She kissed him with every ounce of concentration she could muster, digging her nails frantically into his warm skin. Natsu groaned as she squirmed beneath him, moving his fingers with increasing speed and area, brushing the most sensitive part of her body with his thumb on every second stroke.

Natsu had been with other girls. Not many, and none that he particularly cared for, but he’d been with others. That was before he knew Lucy, before he’d pictured the beautiful blonde mess of pleasure beneath him now as the woman he would eventually fall in love with. Natsu moved his lips to her neck, just under her jaw, as Lucy was overwhelmed, throwing her head back with heated moans. He felt a deep satisfaction knowing he was the first man to do this to her.

Lucy watched with hooded lids as Natsu removed her jeans and panties, kissing along the length of her legs. Her nerves were on fire, her stomach twisted in glorious anticipation. Natsu was everything she’d pictured he’d be; his muscled body hovering over hers with strength and passion, his lips firm and tantalizing against her skin, his hands hot against her body.

With deliberate hesitation, Natsu’s hands slipped around Lucy’s thighs, trailed over the swell of her cheeks, and settled with one palm at the deepest curve of her spine and one placed firmly between her shoulder blades. There was only a moment for Lucy’s features to register confusion before she was lifted into Natsu’s lap, straddling him as he knelt.

He kissed her deeply, his erection brushing against her core with teasing intentions. Lucy moaned into the kiss, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

“This way,” Natsu mumbled against her lips, his grip tightening on her body. “You can control the pace. I don’t want to go too fast for you.” She knew he meant it to be sincere, but she caught the playful wink in his voice. “Once you’re ready, I’ll take over from there.” There was no figurative wink this time, he pulled away from her and slipped into a seductive smirk that made her heart flutter.

Sinking into another sensual kiss, Lucy began to lower herself slowly onto Natsu. It was tight, and uncomfortable, but she couldn’t stop the moan of relief that escaped her as she inched her way down, settling so that he was snugly sheathed inside her.

Natsu’s shoulders had tensed with restraint. He was struggling to remain still as Lucy slid over him, her warmth and wetness coating him deliciously. Slowly, she began to rock her hips back and forth and he nearly came undone.

Using her knees, Lucy began to raise herself and drop again, discomfort fading and being replaced by a roaring need that built and built inside her, begging her to go faster and harder. She moaned, gripping Natsu’s shoulders tightly and using him for balance as she rubbed herself against him desperately. Her thoughts were jumbled, tangled in the mess of desire rolling inside the pit of her stomach.

“Natsu…” Lucy breathed, her fingers tangling in his hair. She gripped him tightly, using him for balance as she became lost in the sensations. She was moving faster, trying to reach the rhythm her body ached for.

“Hmm?” Natsu groaned, opening one eye lazily to look at her. Her face was flushed, her eyes glazed, her pink lips parted ever so slightly. She was tantalizingly beautiful.

“Take over, please,” Lucy panted, grinding against him in wanting. There was a pestering need growing in the pit of her stomach, one she wasn’t satisfying on her own.

Natsu grinned at her devilishly, trailing his hands teasingly over her thighs and hips. She shivered beneath his touch, praying that he would suddenly grab her and force her down so he could ravage her.

He did no such thing as he watched her, gently pumping his hips into her and making her whimper. “I don’t know, Luce…” He trailed, letting the words slip from his tongue slowly so she couldn’t hear the hunger in his voice. “That wasn’t very convincing. I don’t know if that’s what you really want.”

Lucy bristled. Natsu was deliberately toying with her, and she was not going to put up with it. If he wanted to test her, she would bite back tenfold. Furrowing her brow in determination, Lucy dug her fingers into the short hairs at the base of Natsu’s neck, pulling so his head tilted back. In one fluid movement, her lips crashed onto his, channeling the magnitude of her need into a lustful kiss. She moaned, rocking her hips sharply as Natsu gasped against her lips.

“Natsu…” She whispered huskily, breaking their kiss to stare heatedly into his eyes. “ _Take._ _Me_.”

And then she was falling.

Lucy’s back hit the mattress below her with a solid thump, the edge of it resting just below her shoulder blades. Her upper half bent dangerously over the bed and for a breathless minute she thought she would fall, but Natsu was on top of her, securing her body in place below him.

Lucy yelped, wrapping her legs tightly around Natsu’s torso in reflex. She reached up and snaked her arms around his shoulders, balancing herself as she lay half-suspended. He smirked down at her, eying her wickedly before beginning to thrust.

Each pump of his hips was jarring, threatening to set Lucy off balance and them both tumbling to the floor, but the possibility only excited her. Natsu’s hands were digging nearly painfully into her hips, bracing them against the powerful, desperate thrusts he bestowed upon her.

“N-Natsu…!” Lucy’s cry was muffled by a deeply satisfied moan escaping her throat. Finally that place inside her was being met with waves of pleasure, the need in the pit of her stomach flaring with every grunt from Natsu’s chest.

He was allowing himself to lose control, to let his body take over, and the feeling was incredible. He felt like he could do this for the rest of his life, but he could feel his release gaining on him quickly.

Lucy’s moans were driving him crazy, making him go faster and harder until suddenly she was screaming his name. Natsu continued to thrust until her screams were followed by a delighted gasp that rippled through him and triggered an explosion of pleasure in the pit of his own stomach.

The two remained suspended for a moment, catching their breath, until Natsu rolled them over. Lucy yelped, clinging to him until they were safely nestled in the center of the bed.

She listened to the rapid beating of Natsu’s heart as he held her, his arms wrapped tightly around her quivering body. Lucy closed her eyes, noticing the pounding of her own heart ringing loudly in her ears.

“Sorry,” Natsu whispered sheepishly, tightening his hold on her. “I meant to just sleep in this bed, honest.”

Lucy stifled a laugh. She tilted her head back to look at his face; his cheeks were flushed with excitement, his eyes warm and loving. “I don’t mind,” She reassured him, placing a gentle kiss on his lips. Natsu sighed contentedly, twisting her golden hair between his fingers.

“Maybe Happy should stay with Wendy more often,” He mused, a suspicious smirk on his face. “I like this whole ‘quiet night’ thing.”

“There wasn’t much quiet about it,” Lucy giggled. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Natsu gestured for her to get up long enough for him to pull the comforter away from the bed. The sheets were the same navy blue as the ret of the bed set, like she’d suspected. After it was settled, he invited her back into bed and into his arms.

Lucy snuggled in happily, paying careful attention to Natsu and the way his eyes were beginning to droop. She knew it wouldn’t be long before he was asleep, and although there had been several things she wanted to do that night Lucy kept quiet and watched as his breathing deepened. She couldn’t think of a better way to welcome the return of their old routine than with something entirely new.


End file.
